The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

December 14, 2009

The Hockey News - Dec-14-09

<div class="byline">&#x2013; TIM CAMPBELL</div><p class="dropcap"><span>G</span>reg Ireland, fired by the parent Phoenix Coyotes, lasted just more than two years as coach of the San Antonio Rampage, almost identical to his 2005-07 stay behind the Grand Rapids Griffins bench.</p><p>After starting this season 6-1-1, the Rampage skidded to eight losses and two extra-time losses in their next 10 games, sliding all the way to the bottom of the Western Conference. That left Ireland with an 84-75-16 record during his time in San Antonio, which included one playoff appearance, a 2008 first round loss to the Toronto Marlies in seven games. He was handed his walking papers by the organization on Nov. 23.</p><p>Phoenix assistant GM Brad Treliving installed assistant coach Ray Edwards as San Antonio&rsquo;s interim coach and brought in former Florida, New York Rangers and Hockey Canada assistant coach Mike Pelino to assist him.</p><p>The Rampage roster was also thrown into a state of flux when two months into the season, Anaheim &ndash; without its own AHL affiliate &ndash; removed its four players.</p><p>The Ducks re-assigned Matt Beleskey, Troy Bodie and Brett Festerling to Toronto and sent Ryan Donally to Bakersfield of the ECHL.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

PROSPECTS UNLIMITED

IRELAND GETS AXE

<div class="byline">&#x2013; PHILIP COLVIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-05232/9315812-1-eng-US/f0045-052.jpg" title="f0045-05" width="263" height="98"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>fter Miami and Ferris State battled to a 1-1 tie through overtime Nov. 14, the shootout went a CCHA-record 11 rounds and 22 skaters. After a goal apiece, goalies Connor Knapp of the RedHawks and Pat Nagle of the Bulldogs combined for 17 straight saves. Finally, Ferris State sophomore defenseman Chad Billins scored and Nagle made one more save to give the Bulldogs the extra point. &ldquo;The pressure&rsquo;s on, but it was an absolute blast,&rdquo; Nagle said. &ldquo;Once Chad was able to put one in, it definitely pumped me up. I was looking forward to the next shooter to try to put an end to it.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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ALL’S FERRIS IN SHOOTOUT

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JEREMY RUTHERFORD</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06328/9314735-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="301" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> Winger David Backes hopes a recent trip to New York is an indication he&rsquo;ll be on Team USA&rsquo;s roster.</p><p>As the 100-day countdown to the Games began, USA Hockey chose Backes to be interviewed on the <i>Today Show</i>. Backes has struggled to score consistently this season, but GM Brian Burke is a big fan, so he should be safe. Blueliner Erik Johnson and center T.J. Oshie are also U.S. hopefuls.</p><p>Andy McDonald attended Canada&rsquo;s orientation camp and made a good impression, but he&rsquo;s in tough to make the team.</p><p>Patrik Berglund has struggled this season, but along with Alex Steen, has a chance to make Sweden&rsquo;s roster. And Roman Polak is a sure bet to join the Czech squad.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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IN EVERY ISSUE

St. Louis

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021370/9314078-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MICI: COURTESY OF NHLPA AND COURTNEY MCINTOSH)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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HAT TRICK

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-012103/9313646-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANCOIS LACASSE NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>Puck of contention</b></h2><p>Columbus&rsquo; Antoine Vermette has Montreal&rsquo;s undivided attention as he tries to corral the puck in front of Carey Price.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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IN THIS ISSUE

THE BIG PICTURE

<div class="byline">with Jason Kay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012120/9313691-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="713" height="604"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(MARK WILSON)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>THE WORLD IS ANZE KOPITAR&rsquo;S</b> to devour this season with the notable exception of, well, the world.</p><p>The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; 22-year-old sensation &ndash; the focus of our cover story in this issue as written by Ryan Kennedy &ndash; led the NHL in scoring through nearly one-third of the season and is being mentioned among the early Hart Trophy candidates. Pretty heady and unlikely stuff for a kid from Jesenice, Slovenia.</p><p>And there&rsquo;s the rub. Because of his birthplace, Kopitar &ndash; one of the top players on the planet this year &ndash; won&rsquo;t be in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics because his country&rsquo;s national team didn&rsquo;t qualify.</p><p>He&rsquo;s not alone. Kopitar could form a pretty nifty support group with other NHL players in similar circumstances. Some of the talent that won&rsquo;t be competing for a medal in February due to citizenship includes:</p><p>&bull; Thomas Vanek, the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; perennial goal-scoring leader, who hails from Austria.</p><p>&bull; Nik Antropov, a native of Kazakhstan, who is among the league&rsquo;s best in assists this season playing alongside Ilya Kovalchuk in Atlanta.</p><p>&bull; Cristobal Huet, who is experiencing a renaissance in Chicago (see Overtime on pg. 50), but won&rsquo;t be making any saves in Vancouver because he grew up in France.</p><p>Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Ruslan Fedotenko and Toronto&rsquo;s Alexei Ponikarovsky (Ukraine); New Jersey&rsquo;s Dainius Zubrus (Lithuania); and, injured Vancouver rookie Michael Grabner (Austria) are other NHL regulars who will be on the outside looking in.</p><p>And then there&rsquo;s the Danes, perhaps the fastest-rising, non-traditional hockey nation out there. Players such as Mikkel Boedker (Phoenix), Jannik Hansen (Vancouver), Frans Nielsen (Islanders), Lars Eller (St. Louis) and Peter Regin (Ottawa) dot big-league rosters, but Denmark failed to earn an Olympic berth when not all of its players were made available for a qualifying tournament.</p><p>None of this is necessarily bad news or a condemnation of the system. Rather it&rsquo;s an indication the hockey world is, slowly, stretching its boundaries. At the same time Switzerland is knocking on the door of the &lsquo;Big Seven,&rsquo; threatening to make it eight. It&rsquo;s creating a larger pool of competition, which benefits the game and the fans.</p><p>And this year, it also forces a supreme young talent such as Kopitar to take in the Olympics while sipping pina coladas.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021797/9313684-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="476" height="254"></div><p><b>NEXT ISSUE</b> DECEMBER 28, 2009</p><p>CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TO SUBSCRIBE: <b><a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a></b> CONTACT US: <b><a href="mailto:editorial@thehockeynews.com">editorial@thehockeynews.com</a></b></p><p><b>LISTEN UP!</b></p><p><b>THE HOCKEY NEWS RADIO SHOW</b></p><p><b>FRIDAYS 3-4 EST</b></p><p><b>XM 204</b></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031448/9313677-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="185" height="72"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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THE OTHER ‘DREAM’ TEAM

<div class="byline">Steve Gallivan, Buffalo</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021528/9313791-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="888" height="941"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03985/9313784-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="179" height="179"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>n the defensemen issue (Nov. 16), most of the picks for the three-best defensemen of all-time on each team were spot on, but when I got to my hometown team (Buffalo), I couldn&rsquo;t disagree more with your choice for No. 2.</p><p>If you&rsquo;re looking at offensive stats, your Phil Housley pick makes sense, but he was a forward who masqueraded as a defenseman.</p><p>Who should have been No. 2? Tim Horton, a Hall of Famer who inspired and taught a Sabres defense corps that got the team to the final the year after Horton died. He is also the only defenseman to have his number retired by the Buffalo Sabres.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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SOUNDING OFF HORTON’S SABRES

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-012107/9313746-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="247" height="204"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04609/9313753-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="179" height="179"></div><h2><b>A LOSS IS A LOSS</b></h2><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he NHL is suffering through a plague of overtime losses this season. It feels like half the schedule is going into overtime every night. Tampa is on pace for 30 overtime losses. Thirty!</p><p>The Islanders aren&rsquo;t too far behind. At this rate, every team will be &ldquo;over .500&rdquo; by season&rsquo;s end.</p><p>Our standings are absurd. It&rsquo;s time to call a loss a loss no matter when it occurs. Two points for the win; no points for the loss.</p><p><b>Mike Truman, Biddeford, Maine</b></p><h2><b>OLYMPIC OPTION</b></h2><p>I am addressing this correspondence to Mr. Rich Duryea, whose letter I just read in the Nov. 16 issue of THN.</p><p>Mr. Duryea says owners have every right to object to their players participating in the Olympics, so I ask: what&rsquo;s next? Are we going to deny their participation in the World Championship, from playing in other leagues during lockouts, even from using snow blowers? (Sorry, Joe Sakic.)</p><p>Owners do not own the players, they pay them a salary to play for their team so they can bring in fans and make money from ticket sales and concessions.</p><p>I feel players have every right to make the decision regarding their participation in any event not associated with the NHL or its affiliates.</p><p><b>Tim Kutkuhn, Boise, Idaho</b></p><h2><b>BLACK AND WHITE</b></h2><p>Lots of talk about head shots - what kinds of hits should be allowed and not allowed.</p><p>What if the refs called the game by the rules? Why does hockey always want to make new rules? Enforce the ones already there. Everybody gets a copy of the rulebook, right?</p><p><b>James Altman, Imperial, Pa.</b></p><h2><b>BOLD GOLD PICK</b></h2><p>I have been following your Olympic previews and also noticed a blog on <a href="http://THN.com">THN.com</a> (Edward Fraser, Nov. 19) that continues to get the predictions wrong.</p><p>Mr. Fraser believes Russia will win the gold medal. Quite obviously the THN staff does not know its history, as you have not yet pointed out what I think is obvious.</p><p>The three Olympic Games to feature NHL players have had gold medal matches between three different and conveniently natural geographic and/or political rivals: Russia-Czech Republic (1998), USA-Canada (2002), and Sweden-Finland (2006).</p><p>Presuming the historical trend continues, clearly the 2010 gold medal will be decided between Latvia and Belarus.</p><p><b>Rob Yasinsac, Tarrytown, N.Y.</b></p><h2><b>LET BURKE WORK</b></h2><p>The Leafs are clearly not the team we thought they were when Brian Burke pulled the trigger and got Phil Kessel, but we have to give Burke some credit.</p><p>He has done a good job moving out some of the big contracts left by the GM before him, but is now on the hot seat because a team that is supposed to be rebuilding can&rsquo;t win a game. Leafs Nation, we have to back off and give him some space; Burke is one of the best GMs in the NHL.</p><p>I think we have to ride the team we have and add to what I think is a great core.</p><p>All Burke has to do is fill in the missing links.</p><p><b>John West-Carvalho, Caledon, Ont.</b></p><h2><b>TOP LEAF DEFENDER?</b></h2><p>Tomas Kaberle? Ian Turnbull? How about a defenseman who played for four Leaf Stanley Cup winners?</p><p>Bobby Baun scored the Game 6 overtime winner in the 1964 final on a broken ankle and also played in Game 7.</p><p>He was small, but a devastating and clean master of the hip check. Add 14 years of Maple Leaf service and five All-Star Games and he is a clear top-three choice.</p><p><b>Murray Roth, Denver</b></p><h2><b>FREE SWAG!</b></h2><p>Each issue, we&rsquo;ll give a cool THN hat to the top letter.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Crowd Shots

<div class="byline">with JAMES WRIGHT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012345/9313829-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="510" height="599"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(WRIGHT: GREGG FORWERCK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>What was your &lsquo;welcome to the NHL&rsquo; moment?</b></p><p>First exhibition game, I high-sticked Alex Kovalev in the face, cutting him for I-don&rsquo;t-know-how-many stitches. I got four minutes for it.</p><p><b>What&rsquo;s on your iPod?</b></p><p>I have some Rush, The Police, and the new Beyonce song, &lsquo;Sweet Dreams.&rsquo;</p><p><b>What do you like to do on team flights?</b></p><p>I listen to my iPod or read, and watch the guys play poker. Marty St-Louis is the team&rsquo;s card shark.</p><p><b>Who is your road roommate?</b></p><p>Victor Hedman. We get along well except he hogs the remote big-time. He watches CSI and lots of movies &ndash; he racks up the hotel bill. And he&rsquo;s always borrowing my computer.</p><p><b>What current NHLer is a lock for the Hall of Fame?</b></p><p>Nick Lidstrom.</p><p><b>Last job before hockey?</b></p><p>I was a laborer, but when I was really young I used to collect pucks and sell them at the rink.</p><p><b>Worst hotel you&rsquo;ve stayed in?</b></p><p>There was a hotel in Prince George, B.C. Maybe it was the food, but I wasn&rsquo;t a fan of it.</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05459/9313822-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="60" height="61"></div><p><b>Visit <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> for exclusive Q+A&rsquo;s in our &lsquo;Getting to Know&rsquo; feature</b><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

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2 MINUTES IN THE BOX

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021578/9313895-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="630" height="528"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(EMERY: PAUL BERESWILL/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03928/9313902-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="152" height="152"></div><p>Hey Adam,</p><p>What do you think of Ray Emery&rsquo;s chances of making the Canadian Olympic team? He&rsquo;s been playing great since he came back from Russia and has shown he can be a team player in Philly.</p><p><b><i>Dustin Brown, Estevan, Sask.</i></b></p><p>Hey Dustin,</p><p>I agree, Emery has looked like his season in exile from the NHL refocused his energies. Unfortunately, there&rsquo;s almost no chance whatsoever he&rsquo;ll supplant Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur as one of Canada&rsquo;s top two goalies &ndash; and with this year&rsquo;s strong start from Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Marc-Andre Fleury, I think it&rsquo;ll be difficult for him to claim the No. 3 spot.</p><p>Adam,</p><p>Ever since Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup, it hasn&rsquo;t been very good. However with Victor Hedman, do you think he could carry them to the playoffs? Or do you think Tampa will still stay in their usual position in the standings?</p><p><b><i>Paul Truman, Burlington, Vt.</i></b></p><p>Paul,</p><p>I pegged the Lightning as a playoff team in my pre-season predictions; I don&rsquo;t see any reason to believe they won&rsquo;t be in a dogfight for one of the lower Eastern playoff seeds. But they won&rsquo;t get there because of Hedman alone. Contributions from Steven Stamkos, Vinny Lecavalier and Martin St-Louis &ndash; and the their defense corps &ndash; will be crucial as well.</p><p><b>SUBMIT YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS AT <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a></b></p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-08124/9313888-1-eng-US/f0006-082.jpg" title="f0006-08" width="60" height="61"></div><p>Need more of your questions answered? Read Proteau&rsquo;s <b>&lsquo;Ask Adam&rsquo;</b> column every Friday at <b><a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a></b></p><p><b><a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a></b></p></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>POLL RESULTS</b></h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04586/9313881-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="100" height="100"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p>Who&rsquo;s the best player from a country outside the &lsquo;Big 7&rsquo;?</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-06326/9313874-1-eng-US/f0006-062.jpg" title="f0006-06" width="474" height="491"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-07206/9313867-1-eng-US/f0006-072.jpg" title="f0006-07" width="498" height="685"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(KOPITAR: JAMIE SABAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>SPIT IT OUT!</b></h2><p>GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST</p><p>SEND US AN E-MAIL</p><p><b><a href="mailto:letters@thehockeynews.com">letters@thehockeynews.com</a></b></p><p>OR LOG ON</p><p><b><a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a></b></p><p>SEND US SNAIL MAIL</p><p>Letters, The Hockey News 25 Sheppard Ave. W., Suite 100 Toronto, ON., M2N 6S7, Canada</p><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-0981/9313860-1-eng-US/f0006-092.jpg" title="f0006-09" width="60" height="61"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2><b>BONUS!</b></h2><p>All subscribers get exclusive access on <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> to digital magazine archives!<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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ASK Adam

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="286" height="315"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>P</span>ERHAPS STEVE SULLIVAN</b> knew something, or maybe it was just one of those random coincidences that happen to everyone from time to time. But something was up when Rich Peverley went for dinner on the road with Sullivan last January.</p><p>While they ate, Sullivan made a point of telling Peverley, his teammate with the Nashville Predators, how being placed on waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1999 turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him.</p><p>&ldquo;The next morning I was on waivers,&rdquo; Peverley said.</p><p>Peverley&rsquo;s not about to tempt fate by going out for dinner with someone who has been bought out or traded lately, but he doesn&rsquo;t have much to worry about with his new team. Since joining the Atlanta Thrashers last January, Peverley has emerged as something of a revelation. It turns out he has some pretty decent offensive instincts, plays a good two-way game and has developed into one of the NHL&rsquo;s better faceoff men.</p><p>After joining the Thrashers on waivers nearly one year ago, the 27-year-old Peverley had 21 goals and 59 points in 60 games with his new team through late November and had scored 11 goals and 34 points in just his 30 previous games.</p><p>Don&rsquo;t count on it lasting the season if Ilya Kovalchuk stays healthy, but through the first quarter of 2009-10, Peverley was Atlanta&rsquo;s leading scorer. And that&rsquo;s saying something since the Thrashers had four players &ndash; Peverley, Kovalchuk, Maxim Afinogenov and Nik Antropov &ndash; who were averaging at least a point a game through the team&rsquo;s first 21 contests.</p><p>Even though Peverley has never been a prolific scorer at any level prior to getting to Atlanta, he said there&rsquo;s no complex mystery to his sudden success.</p><p>&ldquo;Uh, well, ice time, pretty much,&rdquo; Peverley said when asked what the key is to his fine play. &ldquo;Ever since I got here, (Thrashers coach) John Anderson has given me a lot of ice time in key situations &ndash; power play, penalty kill, last minute of a game when we&rsquo;re protecting a lead &ndash; and that has really helped build my confidence.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012240/9313940-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="1344" height="2587"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Rich Peverley is proving the NHL waiver wire is well worth keeping an eye on.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(KEVIN C. COX/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>The first game Peverley played for the Thrashers he was used for more than 18 minutes and he&rsquo;s played fewer than 15 just three times since. That&rsquo;s a far cry from what Peverley was receiving in a fourth-line role when he played for the Predators. This season, he was second only to Kovalchuk among Thrasher forwards in ice time with 19:09 per game.</p><p>Yes, Peverley has received increased ice time, but he has also made the most of his opportunity. The minor leagues are filled with players who think they can be NHL regulars if only given the chance, but they receive it, then have a burst of productivity before going back to proving why they&rsquo;re career minor-leaguers. It&rsquo;s a particularly prominent phenomenon with expansion teams, which fill their rosters with castoffs eager to prove everyone wrong, before usually proving everyone was right.</p><p>That&rsquo;s doesn&rsquo;t seem to be the case with Peverley, who played four years at St. Lawrence University and was never drafted. Forced into the ECHL in 2004-05 because there were so many NHL-caliber players in the American League, Peverley worked his way up to a free agent contract with the Milwaukee Admirals, which was then parlayed into an NHL deal with the parent Predators.</p><p>Peverley noted Ray Shero, the former Predators assistant GM who recently won a Stanley Cup as the GM in Pittsburgh, was instrumental in giving Peverley his NHL chance.</p><p>Peverley is making the NHL&rsquo;s minimum wage, but signed a two-year extension worth a total of $2.6 million that kicks in next season. If he keeps up the 93-point pace he&rsquo;s on, he&rsquo;ll be an enormous bargain.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012208/9313933-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="658" height="907"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>RICH PEVERLEY</b> <span class="photo-credit">(PEVERLEY: SCOTT CUNNINGHAM/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Hindsight is 20-20,&rdquo; Peverley said. &ldquo;We have a good team here and I really wanted to be part of the organization. I really haven&rsquo;t been in the NHL that long and I looked at this as baby steps toward really solidifying myself as good NHL player. And there are a lot of guys who turned down contract extensions and are struggling to find jobs right now, especially after last summer.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

common01

GETTING RICH OFF WAIVERS

<h2><b>+ TO THE MAX</b></h2><p>After a couple invisible seasons in Buffalo, Maxim Afinogenov has the afterburners going once again in Atlanta.</p><h2><b>&ndash; ABSENT IN OTTAWA</b></h2><p>Anyone else surprised to see nearly 3,000 empty seats in Ottawa for a game versus Alex Ovechkin&rsquo;s Capitals in late November?</p><h2><b>+ SHERRY ROCKS</b></h2><p>Sherry Ross calls all 60 minutes of a Sens-Devils game, becoming the first woman to do play-by-play for an entire NHL contest.</p><h2><b>&ndash; REALLY, KIPPER?</b></h2><p>Pretty brazen of Miikka Kiprusoff &ndash; he of no Stanley Cups or Olympic medals &ndash; to say he&rsquo;ll only fly an hour west to Vancouver if he&rsquo;s named the starter for goalie-rich Finland.</p><h2><b>+ BIG NUMBERS IN TEXAS</b></h2><p>Brad Richards re-establishes himself as an elite point-producer with the Stars.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021604/9313978-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="750" height="1354"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MAXIM AFINOGENOV</b> <span class="photo-credit">(AFINOGENOV: DAVE REGINEK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0010-02

Plus/Minus

<h2><b>5FIVE</b></h2><p>With 102 assists in four seasons prior to 2005, <b>Henrik Sedin</b> has found his niche with 260 helpers since the lockout.</p><h2><b>4FOUR</b></h2><p>If <b>Pavel Datsyuk</b> isn&rsquo;t dangling, he&rsquo;s dishing it off. The consistent and creative Red Wing has collected 262 assists.</p><h2><b>3THREE</b></h2><p><b>Marc Savard&rsquo;s</b> 273 assists since &rsquo;05 still wasn&rsquo;t enough for a Team Canada invite. Most underrated talent in the game.</p><h2><b>2TWO</b></h2><p><b>Sidney Crosby</b> is like MacGyver: He can make something out of nothing. His vision is justified by his 278 helpers.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-031017/9314009-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="672" height="544"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(THORNTON: DAVE SANDFORD/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>1ONE</b></h2><p>It&rsquo;s more than sunshine that lured Dany Heatley to San Jose. <b>Joe Thornton&rsquo;s</b> 342 assists likely played a factor, too.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-03

Starting from 5

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JOHN GRIGG</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="286" height="315"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011889/9314040-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="1105" height="592"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Mirzet Hodzic&rsquo;s tragic tale kept onlookers riveted at the Hall of Fame gala.</b></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE NHL PLAYERS&rsquo; ASSOCIATION</b> hasn&rsquo;t been getting a lot of good press lately, but its relatively unknown Goals & Dreams program deserves some. Just don&rsquo;t think the good publicity is what the players are in it for.</p><p>&ldquo;The bottom line is the people who know about it are the people who need to know about it, the kids,&rdquo; said Devin Smith, the NHLPA&rsquo;s director, marketing and community relations, and the G&D chairman.</p><p>This year marks the 10th anniversary of the program, which has so far donated more than 13,000 full sets of equipment to underprivileged children in 22 countries, as well as 75 ice re-surfacers and more than 110 sets of boards and glass to community arenas in small towns in Europe and North America. In all, more than $17 million has reached hockey programs, affecting 40,000-plus needy kids. It&rsquo;s the world&rsquo;s largest grassroots hockey program.</p><p>To celebrate the anniversary, the NHLPA sent a contingent on the longest road trip of their careers covering 10 countries in 10 days.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be pretty wild,&rdquo; said Smith before leaving. &ldquo;Something like 30 hours playing and 19- or 20-thousand kilometers traveled.&rdquo;</p><p>In 10 days the group donated 400 sets of equipment to financially strapped youth teams. At most stops, local ex-NHLers hosted Smith along with fellow travelers Matt Langen, G&D program manager, and P.J. Stock and Rob Zamuner, both former NHLers.</p><p>Markus Naslund, Peter Forsberg, Kent Nilsson and Niklas Sundstrom were on hand in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden; Jyrki Lumme and Esa Tikkanen in Helsinki, Finland; Pavel Bure in Moscow, Russia; Arturs Irbe in Riga, Latvia; Jaroslav Modry, Martin Rucinsky, Martin Straka and Jiri Slegr in Prague, Czech Republic; and, Zdeno Ciger in Trnava, Slovakia.</p><p>The travelers were blown away by the reception they received. And in some ways they were more in demand than the local heroes.</p><p>&ldquo;The equipment was big,&rdquo; Zamuner said, &ldquo;but the fact we went over there to visit their country, to go to their school, to go on the ice with them was just as big a thrill.</p><p>&ldquo;The kids in Bosnia were just overwhelmed that we came to their country, saw where they lived, ate their food.&rdquo;</p><p>It was Bosnia that intrigued Smith, Stock and Zamuner most and left the most indelible impression on everyone.</p><p>The group visited the capital, Sarajevo, site of the 1984 Winter Olympics and center of a horrific civil and ethnic war during the former Yugoslavia&rsquo;s breakup in the 1990s. The country and its people are still recovering.</p><p>&ldquo;Bosnia was really remarkable,&rdquo; said Zamuner before relating the story of one young adult, Mirzet Hodzic, nicknamed &lsquo;Mici&rsquo;. &ldquo;He lost his father and grandfather in the war; they were killed in the genocide. His grandmother carried him to safety on her back for three days with just a stick of bread.&rdquo;</p><p>Hodzic embraced hockey and now teaches the game to youngsters in Sarajevo, helping to keep them off the streets and out of trouble.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s incredible, this kid,&rdquo; Zamuner said. &ldquo;He lives up in the mountains outside Sarajevo. He wakes up in the morning at 5:00. It takes him an hour to walk down the mountain, then he takes the bus across Sarajevo to get these kids ready for 7:00.&rdquo;</p><p>The trip wrapped up in late November with visits to Frankfurt, Germany, New York City and Toronto, where a grand finale event was held at the Hockey Hall of Fame and included a speech from Hodzic, who accompanied the team on the final leg of the journey.</p><p>Zamuner tried to put into words what the tour meant to the group: &ldquo;To go around the world and show that the players want to give back to the grassroots programs&hellip;A lot of times we&rsquo;re in the paper because of how much we make and whatnot, but it&rsquo;s nice to be on the other side of the ledger.</p><p>&ldquo;It is a celebration of 10 years, but it&rsquo;s also about awareness.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

DREAMS DO COME TRUE

<div class="byline">&#x2013; EDWARD FRASER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="286" height="315"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012155/9314116-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="523" height="385"></div><p>ROAD TO VANCOUVER 2010</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021688/9314109-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="1271" height="1205"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>MIIKKA KIPRUSOFF</b> <span class="photo-credit">(KIPRUSOFF: JAMIE SABAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>THE DEFENDING</b> Olympic silver medalists enter the 2010 Games with a lot of questions, the most prominent and intriguing among them being which of Finland&rsquo;s all-world keepers will end up as the go-to guy?</p><p>Both Miikka Kiprusoff in Calgary and Niklas Backstrom in Minnesota have played well this season and it&rsquo;s as likely as Vancouver rain that one of those two will get most of the playing time.</p><p>The odds-on favorite through October and most of November was Kiprusoff, who shed his reputation as a slow starter and had the Flames perched in the West&rsquo;s upper echelon. But the situation became murky when Kiprusoff publicly stated in late November that if he wasn&rsquo;t going to be the starter, he&rsquo;d rather stay home and rest during the Olympic break.</p><p>Not surprisingly, those comments didn&rsquo;t sit well with Team Finland GM and national icon Jari Kurri.</p><p>&ldquo;The players don&rsquo;t make decisions, the coaches do,&rdquo; Kurri said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think any team would allow the players to say, &lsquo;Oh, I&rsquo;m only going to play power play and that&rsquo;s it.&rsquo; It just doesn&rsquo;t go that way.&rdquo;</p><p>Kurri said he didn&rsquo;t get a No.-1-or-else impression from Kiprusoff when the two spoke in September, but the news can&rsquo;t be overly surprising considering the 33-year-old skipped the Turin Olympic tournament to rest a sore hip that didn&rsquo;t prevent him from starting the bulk of Flames games before and after the 2006 Games.</p><p>If the Finns take a pass on &lsquo;Kipper&rsquo; (or vice-versa), their cage will still be kept capably by Backstrom, a Vezina Trophy finalist last season and winner of the 2006-07 Jennings Trophy (along with Manny Fernandez).</p><p>But don&rsquo;t ask Backstrom where he thinks he stands on the Finnish depth chart; the Helsinki native is taking a team-first position, with that team being the Wild.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of Finnish goalies in the league, a lot of good goalies,&rdquo; Backstrom said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see what happens when they pick the team. That&rsquo;s the coaches&rsquo; job.</p><p>&ldquo;Like every athlete, the Olympics is a big thing&hellip;You want to be there, you want to be part of that. But you can&rsquo;t be too concerned with it, you have to be ready for your next (NHL) game.&rdquo;</p><p>One of those good Finnish goalies to whom Backstrom refers is Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Antero Niittymaki. Statistically, he has been the best of the Finnish bunch this season and has shown he can step up in big international competition; the 29-year-old posted a 5-1-0 record with a 1.34 goals-against average in Turin and was named to the tournament&rsquo;s all-star team. He proved that was no fluke later in the year, recording a 2-1-1 record with a 1.70 GAA at the 2006 World Championship.</p><p>Nashville&rsquo;s 6-foot-5 revelation, Pekka Rinne, will also be part of the discussion. The 27-year-old has usurped Dan Ellis to become the top dog in Nashville and is the main reason for the Preds&rsquo; surprise success.</p><p>Rinne, too, has experience backstopping Finland. He won four of the six games he started at the 2009 World Championship, compiling a tidy 1.93 GAA along the way.</p><p>If the Finns are to repeat or better their &rsquo;06 Olympic run, they&rsquo;ll need superior goaltending &ndash; and more &ndash; to overcome their inferior high-end talent and depth compared to the likes of Canada, Russia, Sweden and the U.S.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s impossible, but we&rsquo;re not the favorites,&rdquo; said Teemu Selanne, who needs one point to tie Soviet legend Valery Kharlamov for the modern Olympics points record with 36. &ldquo;The last Olympics proved when we play our best, anything is possible. We like the underdog role and the gap between No. 1 and No. 5 is not that big.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

FACTORY FINNISH

<p class="dropcap"><b><span>H</span>APPY BIRTHDAY, HABS:</b> Can we please move on now? There has been all kinds of celebrating for the past year-and-a-half in advance of the Montreal Canadiens turning 100 on Dec. 4. No doubt it&rsquo;s a special birthday for a special team, but we just feel like the festivities included one too many wonky jerseys from Habs history &ndash; namely, those barber-pole sweaters that induced TV viewers to go cross-eyed.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-031086/9314154-1-eng-US/f0012-032.jpg" title="f0012-03" width="260" height="358"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(CAMMALLERI: FRANCOIS LACASSE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>EVERYBODY KNOWS</b> the last two Stanley Cup finals haven&rsquo;t gone exactly as Marian Hossa had hoped. And really, neither did the one time he was on the right side of a championship. Hossa was a vital member of the Portland Winter Hawks team that won the 1998 Memorial Cup, but injured his knee in the third period of the decisive game with the score tied 3-3. With Hossa on the sidelines, Portland went on to claim the Cup in overtime. Bittersweet as the win must have been for Hossa, maybe there&rsquo;s a good omen in the fact the last time he won anything it was in a &lsquo;Hawks&rsquo; jersey.</p><p><b>ADD MATT MOULSON</b> to the list of guys who make you thirsty when watching them play. Of course it&rsquo;s tough to top Bob and Eddy Beers in that category &ndash; or even Paul Coffey if it&rsquo;s a rare late-morning game.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0012-03

Snapshots

<div class="byline">with Adam Proteau</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021467/9314199-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Former Hab Stephane Richer has opened up about his bouts with depression.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ROBERT LABERGE/ALLSPORT)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011904/9314206-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="187" height="222"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>I</span>MAGINE THE REACTION</b> throughout Quebec and the hockey community if, crippled by a depression he hid from virtually everyone outside his immediate family, Martin Brodeur laid down in front of a New Jersey train tomorrow morning and took his own life.</p><p>That&rsquo;s the equivalent of what happened in Germany in early November, when star soccer goalie Robert Enke committed suicide at age 32.</p><p>At a press conference in the wake of her husband&rsquo;s death, Enke&rsquo;s wife revealed he was despondent over the possibility of losing their adopted child and his privacy if the general public learned he had been treated for acute depression since 2003. He had also lost a two-year-old daughter to cancer in 2006.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&lsquo;I&rsquo;D HAVE GREAT GAMES, BUT I COULDN&rsquo;T WAIT TO BE BY MYSELF&rsquo;</b></blockquote><p>Why should this matter to hockey fans? Because clinical depression and mental health issues already had scarred the hockey world numerous times before Enke&rsquo;s tragic death &ndash; from Maple Leafs legend Ron Ellis, to Maple Leaf Gardens sexual abuse victim Martin Kruze, to Sheldon Kennedy, to retired Flyer Claude Lapointe, to Canadiens/Devils great Stephane Richer &ndash; and because hockey players of all ages and from all leagues have a right to know that options are out there for them to address their suffering.</p><p>Why should this matter? Because Theo Fleury wrote about it bluntly and bravely in his book <i>Playing With Fire</i>, detailing a suicidal episode in 2003 where he put a loaded gun in his mouth, as well as a drug habit that led to a crystal methamphetamine overdose in 1999.</p><p>&ldquo;I was thinking, &lsquo;I have finally accomplished what I have wanted to accomplish for a long time,&rsquo; &rdquo; Fleury said. &ldquo; &lsquo;I am going to die.&rsquo; &rdquo;</p><p>If a tough-as-titanium little mother like Fleury can very quietly self-immolate from the inside, to the point where he no longer recognizes the joys his sport and his loved ones have given him, then none of us are safe from it.</p><p>And most importantly, none of us ought to be ashamed to be afflicted with it. Because that shame is likely at the center of the specter that haunted, hunted and devoured Robert Enke.</p><p>It isn&rsquo;t as if we&rsquo;re in the true mental health dark ages of the 1960s and &rsquo;70s, when nobody had a clue what steps to take to help those overwhelmed emotionally or chemically.</p><p>The NHL, in fact, is a perfect example of the progress that has taken place.</p><p>&ldquo;The league does a great job with their player programs,&rdquo; said NHL Alumni Association executive director Mark Napier. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s certainly a lot better than it was 20 or 30 years ago. They try and keep players&rsquo; best interests at heart and get them help as soon as they can.</p><p>&ldquo;With the alumni, we&rsquo;re in the same mode as they are, although with us sometimes you don&rsquo;t hear about issues with guys until it&rsquo;s too late. But the more guys talk about depression and mental issues, the less there&rsquo;ll be a stigma attached to it, and more will come forward and ask for help.&rdquo;</p><p>Depression in hockey first returned to the headlines in October, after Richer &ndash; sitting beside me on the panel of TSN&rsquo;s <i>Off The Record</i> &ndash; held almost nothing back when discussing his flirtations with suicide and how difficult it was finding help.</p><p>It was a moving moment for everyone on that set, especially given what some of us knew about host Michael Landsberg&rsquo;s experiences with depression.</p><p>And the emails Landsberg received from that show (as well as a follow-up edition of <i>OTR</i> done with Richer) proved there are many people who still suppress and deny what ails them.</p><p>&ldquo;We got such an outpouring and it was every reaction you could imagine,&rdquo; Landsberg said. &ldquo;People would write, &lsquo;Wow, I never really wanted to talk about depression, I was always afraid and kept it inside,&rsquo; or, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s really weird hearing people talking about it &ndash; aren&rsquo;t you afraid to speak out?&rsquo; Well, hell, no, why would I be afraid to say it?</p><p>&ldquo;How could you think that? I&rsquo;ve never hid it. I made a decision about five or six years ago to share it with anyone I thought it was appropriate to share with.</p><p>&ldquo;Would we ever hesitate to tell someone we had an appendectomy? You&rsquo;d never be embarrassed to say something like that, but with depression, it&rsquo;s different. So it&rsquo;s really, really important for me to talk about it.&rdquo;</p><p>I often get questions from people wondering what Landsberg is &ldquo;really like&rdquo; &ndash; ie. if he is as cocky as some make him out to be. However, the truth is he&rsquo;s one of the most down-to-earth, decent family men I&rsquo;ve met in this business.</p><p>But if you&rsquo;re shocked that Landsberg and Enke could be depressed despite their professional and personal successes, you&rsquo;re misunderstanding the disease.</p><p>&ldquo;Even my close friends from my small town, when I told them how I was missing something and wasn&rsquo;t happy, they would always talk about money,&rdquo; said Richer to THN shortly after he was a finalist on CBC&rsquo;s figure skating reality show <i>Battle of the Blades</i>. &ldquo;They see a nice car, a nice house, but they don&rsquo;t see a lot of things.&rdquo;</p><p>Added Landsberg: &ldquo;I always describe what it feels like to be depressed as something where you know, in your head, that no matter what happens the rest of the day, you&rsquo;re still going to be miserable. Part of the problem is the language we use to describe it, because we use the word &lsquo;depression&rsquo; for other things.</p><p>&ldquo;Some people think depression means &lsquo;sad,&rsquo; and then the question becomes, &lsquo;Why are you sad, Michael? You&rsquo;ve got a great family and a great job.&rsquo; But that&rsquo;s not what depression is. You need another word for it, because depression is pain of the soul.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011675/9314192-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="1032" height="842"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Both Michael Landsberg (left) and Richer have overcome depression.</b></figcaption></div><p>Richer said hockey players deal with the issue in different ways.</p><p>&ldquo;Some guys are depressed and they are going to go drink, or they have a gambling problem&hellip;They&rsquo;re going to look for something,&rdquo; Richer said. &ldquo;Most of the time guys are going to drink. They want to be at the bar, around a lot of people. I was different. I just wanted to be quiet. I just wanted to be left alone all of the time.</p><p>&ldquo;Sometimes I&rsquo;d have great nights on the ice, and I couldn&rsquo;t wait just to go back home, close the door and be by myself, watching TV. All I knew was that I was missing something.&rdquo;</p><p>Landsberg, who is hard at work on a book that will delve into his recurrent bouts with the disease, was upset at the seeming preventability of Enke&rsquo;s death.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s 2009, and here&rsquo;s a guy who was more able to kill himself in the most violent, awful way possible, than he was to say &lsquo;Hey, everyone, I&rsquo;m depressed,&rsquo; &rdquo; Landsberg said. &ldquo;By most people&rsquo;s definition he had every reason not to be depressed, but most people&rsquo;s definition of depression is wrong.</p><p>&ldquo;And the comments from his wife, who said he was worried about losing his friends and his child, that just tells you that there&rsquo;s thousands of people in Canada who don&rsquo;t feel like they&rsquo;ve got the ability to come out and tell people. To me, that&rsquo;s bizarre. And that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s sad.&rdquo;</p><span class="image-inline"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-031084/9314185-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="47" height="47"></span><p>For Adam&rsquo;s web-exclusive <b>Screen Shots</b> column, visit <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0016-02

DEPRESSION IN THE RANKS

<div class="byline">George Richards</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021345/9314237-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Stephen Weiss hasn&rsquo;t seen the playoffs, just a lot of coaches and GMs.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ELIOT J. SCHECHTER/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011781/9314244-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="187" height="222"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>C</span>LIFF VINER HAS BEEN</b> a Panthers season-ticket holder for years, becoming good friends with the people who have sat around him behind the net over the seasons.</p><p>So when it became public that he and Stu Siegel were going to be taking over the team, his buddies wondered if they would see him at the games anymore. The owner, his pals figured, has to sit in a sky box overlooking his kingdom.</p><p>That&rsquo;s just not Viner&rsquo;s style.</p><p>&ldquo;I love sitting down there,&rdquo; he said with a laugh. &ldquo;We have a great crew. My best friend sits next to me. I&rsquo;ve become friends with all the guys and ladies in that section.&rdquo;</p><p>Two hockey fans have taken over the Panthers and that&rsquo;s probably not a bad thing. For a franchise that hasn&rsquo;t been to the playoffs since Bill Clinton was in office, the Panthers need change. Well, change in a good way.</p><p>Since Alan Cohen led a group of eight investors in buying the team in 2001, not only haven&rsquo;t the Panthers tasted the postseason, but the club has had six coaches and six GMs. Cohen, who ceded control of the franchise to Siegel and Viner on Nov. 16, was a Panthers fan, too, but not a hockey nut the way Florida&rsquo;s two new co-managing partners are.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&lsquo;I LIKE JUMPING IN AND CLAPPING AND HIGH-FIVING EVERYONE&rsquo;</b></blockquote><p>And unlike Cohen, Viner and Siegel promise to be very visible both in the community and at the arena. Where Cohen would sit in a private box when he did attend games, both Viner and Siegel will roam around. Viner will watch most of the game in his usual seats with his buddies, using the intermission to schmooze in the owner&rsquo;s box.</p><p>Siegel will visit the box as well, but he likes taking in the game from different places and cheering on the team with the fans. He used to be able to sneak into sections without being recognized, but now as one of the team&rsquo;s owners, fans are definitely figuring out who is sitting next to them.</p><p>&ldquo;First and foremost, we&rsquo;re fans and that&rsquo;s why we got into this,&rsquo;&rsquo; Siegel said. &ldquo;I like jumping in there and clapping and high-fiving everyone. I don&rsquo;t think anyone knew who I was before, but we&rsquo;ll see how it goes. I just hope I don&rsquo;t get accosted if we lose.&rdquo;</p><p>As far as management of the team goes, both new owners admit to being very knowledgeable about the game (Siegel played at Penn and still plays on a weekly basis in South Florida), but not enough to get involved with trades or player movement. They are going to leave the decisions up to the hockey people they have hired, and both had a say in Randy Sexton being installed as the GM when the team was opening the 2009-10 NHL regular season in Helsinki, Finland.</p><p>Both stress there will more accountability than in the past, with Sexton and coach Pete DeBoer having to answer to what happens on the ice.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re hockey fans, but we&rsquo;re not going to make hockey decisions,&rsquo;&rsquo; Siegel said. &ldquo;We need to help fix this franchise on the business side. That&rsquo;s first. And we&rsquo;re going to hold people accountable for what they do. We expect their best effort every night.&rsquo;&rsquo;</p><p>Before the lockout, Cohen was known for taking control and never being satisfied with his team&rsquo;s management. He hired Mike Keenan as coach only to fire him and bring in someone else. Then he brought Keenan back to be the GM, only to fire him a few months after Keenan traded Roberto Luongo to Vancouver.</p><p>Tired of hearing about problems with the franchise&rsquo;s stability, Cohen handed the keys over to Jacques Martin and let him run things unfettered for a couple of years &ndash; only stepping in to fire Martin the coach, but keep Martin the GM in 2008.</p><p>Cohen spent a lot of money on salaries as Martin made Nathan Horton, Stephen Weiss, Rostislav Olesz, Bryan Allen and Keith Ballard very rich and very comfortable with multi-million-dollar contracts at lengthy terms. All the while, Florida&rsquo;s financial situation remained unstable. So now he&rsquo;s out as far as day-to-day operations go (he still owns a large chunk of the team) and the two hockey nuts are in.</p><p>Viner and Siegel say they want to try and grow the game in Florida and bring in new fans. It&rsquo;s something we&rsquo;ve all heard before, but there&rsquo;s little doubt the two new owners really love hockey and are passionate about their Panthers. If they can&rsquo;t make it work here, there aren&rsquo;t many options left.</p><p>If this team could win enough games to make the playoffs and drum up excitement in a win-or-be-forgotten market, Viner and Siegel&rsquo;s job becomes much, much easier.</p><p>And if the Panthers ever do make the playoffs again, we all know where to find the owners. In the stands.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-02

CLOUDS LIFTING IN SUNRISE

<div class="byline">with Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-021112/9314324-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Cam Fowler had committed to Notre Dame, but ultimately opted for the CHL route.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011538/9314331-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="187" height="222"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE START OF THE SEASON</b> is a distant memory and the Olympics are still too far away. These are, without a doubt, the dog days of the hockey season.</p><p>But that doesn&rsquo;t mean nothing interesting is happening. With that in mind, we present &ldquo;News & Views&rdquo; in the hockey world.</p><p><b>NEWS</b>&nbsp;<i>Deposed NHL Players&rsquo; Association leader Paul Kelly is named the executive director of College Hockey, Inc.</i></p><p><b>VIEWS</b> By far the biggest challenge facing Kelly, aside from getting his money from the NHLPA, will be stemming the tide of hockey talent coming from the U.S. to the Canadian Hockey League.</p><p>Not only is major junior hockey getting quantity &ndash; there are 105 American players on CHL rosters this season &ndash; but it is making a mockery of the competition. With very few notable exceptions, every elite American player is choosing major junior over college. Not only are the big U.S. schools losing players after they&rsquo;ve already committed, they&rsquo;re now losing players in-season after they&rsquo;ve already taken one of the school&rsquo;s coveted scholarships.</p><p>It&rsquo;s largely because major junior has almost every advantage over colleges when it comes to recruiting. Players can&rsquo;t be contacted by college recruiters until they&rsquo;re 16, but major junior teams can get into those players&rsquo; &ndash; and their parents&rsquo; &ndash; heads as early as they want. They have the advantage of getting them and closing off their college options as soon as the player starts playing and &ndash; in the case of the real star players &ndash; can afford to offer them substantial money.</p><p>At the recent Bauer AAA Invitational in Chicago, you couldn&rsquo;t swing a dead cat without hitting a junior scout, but NCAA recruiters were absent because they were prohibited from speaking with the players.</p><p>That&rsquo;s about to change because even though players cannot be approached by individual schools, they can be approached by Kelly and College Hockey, Inc. What this will do is allow the colleges access to players to give them their message before they can be swayed by CHL teams.</p><p>But as is the case with any sport, it&rsquo;s the big junior programs with money that are getting almost all of these players. You don&rsquo;t see too many elite college-bound players committing to Ferris State, nor do you see a whole lot going to Rouyn-Noranda.</p><p>London, Kitchener, Plymouth and Windsor are essentially competing for these guys with Michigan, Boston U., Minnesota, Wisconsin and Notre Dame.</p><p>There is all kinds of misinformation on both sides of the issue, so Kelly&rsquo;s most arduous challenge may be forging at least some kind of gentleman&rsquo;s agreement between the U.S. colleges and major junior when it comes to recruiting and poaching players.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011427/9314317-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="1026" height="629"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>NEWS</b>&nbsp;<i>A Nov. 25 game between the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils was called by Sherry Ross, making her the first woman ever to call a full 60-minute NHL game in English.</i></p><p><b>VIEWS</b> Judging by my wife&rsquo;s detailed account of everything she did at work every day &ndash; you fellas know what I&rsquo;m talking about &ndash; I&rsquo;m surprised broadcasting booths around the league aren&rsquo;t filled with women.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-021052/9314310-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="640" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ABELIMAGES/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>NEWS</b>&nbsp;<i>The Toronto Maple Leafs have had empty seats in their luxury suites and sweater sales are lagging badly.</i></p><p><b>VIEWS</b> Maybe, just maybe, the Leafs are finally reaching their saturation point in Toronto. The crowd of 18,830 for a game against Ottawa early in the season was the lowest ever recorded at the Air Canada Centre.</p><p>Perhaps sweater sales are suffering because if you live in Toronto and want to order a Tomas Kaberle sweater, it&rsquo;s going to set you back $115. If you order from the U.S., however, the very same sweater costs only $50. And since you can&rsquo;t order sweaters in Canada using American currency, Canadian purchasers are being ripped off to the tune of $65, give or take a few dollars for the difference in currency.</p><p><b>NEWS</b>&nbsp;<i>Miikka Kiprusoff says he&rsquo;ll play for Finland in the Olympics only if he&rsquo;s named the No. 1 goalie.</i></p><p><b>VIEWS</b> Obviously, Kiprusoff didn&rsquo;t learn from 2006, when he bowed out and missed out on winning a silver medal. Of course, there&rsquo;s no guarantee the Finns would have done as well with him instead of Antero Niittymaki. In any event, enjoy the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics from the comfort of your couch, Miikka.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03792/9314303-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="639" height="533"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04587/9314296-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="1028" height="633"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>NEWS</b>&nbsp;<i>The strong play of Steven Stamkos has him in serious consideration for the Canadian Olympic team.</i></p><p><b>VIEWS</b> Here&rsquo;s hoping Steve Yzerman doesn&rsquo;t repeat the mistake that Wayne Gretzky made in 2006 when he kept Sidney Crosby off the Canadian roster and instead took Todd Bertuzzi. Here&rsquo;s hoping Yzerman has no desire to make himself look like he&rsquo;s smarter than everybody else and judges Stamkos on his merit and his ability to play with the best players in the world. No need to repeat 1998, when Bob Clarke chose Rob Zamuner for the Olympic team.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05448/9314289-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="1034" height="654"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(ANDREAS HULTMAN/JANSONS MEDIA)</span></figcaption></div><p><b>NEWS</b>&nbsp;<i>AIK in Stockholm signs a letter of intent to join the Kontinental Hockey League.</i></p><p><b>VIEWS</b> In terms of prolonged mismanagement, AIK Stockholm makes the Toronto Maple Leafs look like Manchester United. In the mid-1980s, AIK Stockholm was the most stable and profitable team in the Swedish League. Established in 1891, it was a perennial contender and had produced the likes of Kent Nilsson, Pelle Eklund and Pelle Lindbergh.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-06362/9314282-1-eng-US/f0022-062.jpg" title="f0022-06" width="200" height="250"></div><p>But incompetent ownership and management has driven the team into the ground. At one point, they were playing in Sweden&rsquo;s third division, but are now a middle-of-the-road team in the second division.</p><p>My, what a coup for the KHL. Almost as significant as getting Alexei Yashin.</p><p>Here&rsquo;s betting AIK never joins the KHL. They get 2,000 fans a game and have trouble paying for flights to northern Sweden and now all of a sudden they&rsquo;re going to be able to fly to places such as Omsk and Khabarovsk? If AIK does join the KHL, it will almost certainly be suspended from play in Sweden and once it returns, will have to work its way up from the lowest league in the country.</p><p>Yup, have to keep fearing the KHL, the most hyped-up and phony threat since <i>War of the Worlds</i>. It has already managed to swallow up a second-division team in Sweden in its efforts to build a pan-European superleague. Beware, today they take AIK in Sweden, tomorrow they take KooKoo and Jokipojat in Finland.</p><span class="image-inline"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03801/9314275-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="47" height="47"></span><p>For Ken&rsquo;s web-exclusive <b>Campbell&rsquo;s Cuts</b> column, visit <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0020-02

KELLY GIVES IT COLLEGE TRY

<div class="byline">By Ryan Kennedy</div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>et the record show that before Shepard Fairey immortalized U.S. president Barack Obama with his &ldquo;Hope&rdquo; portrait, the artist did the same for Los Angeles Kings star</p><h2><b>Anze Kopitar.</b></h2><p>OK, there&rsquo;s a bit of an asterisk to the story.</p><p>Before his Obama piece, Fairey was best known for a counterculture graphic of Andre the Giant with the word &ldquo;Obey&rdquo; under the famed wrestler&rsquo;s face. Back in 2005, Kings fans, buoyed by the play of their newest hope, copied Kopitar&rsquo;s mug on the stencil with the word &ldquo;Anze&rdquo; &ndash; which is actually pronounced &ldquo;Ahn-Jay&rdquo; &ndash; underneath and spray-painted the image all over Los Angeles. A King was born.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011374/9314397-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="872" height="1408"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JEFF GROSS/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-011223/9314390-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="2363" height="3225"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JENNIFER POTTHEISER/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011386/9314383-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="156" height="156"></div><p>And while Kopitar&rsquo;s offensive output had been impressive in his first three NHL seasons, it has been his play through the first one-third of the 2009-10 campaign that has Kings fans thinking playoffs for the first time since before the lockout &ndash; and his numbers suggest the NHL&rsquo;s first Slovenian import is in line for the Art Ross Trophy and perhaps even the Hart.</p><p>&ldquo;It would be a great honor,&rdquo; said Kopitar in reference to a possible scoring title. &ldquo;Just to be on top right now, it&rsquo;s great, but there&rsquo;s still a lot of hockey left and lot of work to be done.&rdquo;</p><p>Thanks to instant chemistry with new linemates Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams, an emphasis on a puck-hawking forecheck and a new commitment to off-season training, Kopitar is more prepared than ever to make himself a household name &ndash; and put his homeland on the hockey map.</p><p>In a nation of two million people where basketball and soccer dominate, there aren&rsquo;t a lot of &ldquo;hockey families&rdquo; in Slovenia, but the Kopitars certainly qualify. Anze&rsquo;s father, Matjaz, played for the hometown squad in Jesenice, part of the then-Yugoslavian League. Anze began skating at age three-and-a-half and was a rink rat from the start. His father eventually built him a small outdoor rink in the backyard and when he gave Anze his first hockey stick, the little tyke played until his mother called him in for bedtime.</p><p>Meanwhile, Slovenia as a nation was being formed. The Ten-Day War of 1991 saw Matjaz head to the front to fight for &ndash; and win &ndash; independence, while Anze and the rest of the clan headed for their summer home up in the mountains.</p><p>As Kopitar grew, he grew big &ndash; and talented. He demolished the Slovenian ranks as a teen, racking up 76 points in 14 games (5.5 per game if you&rsquo;re trying to do the math) as a 15-year-old on Jesenice&rsquo;s under-18 squad. A year later, he put up 25 points in 21 games for the senior league&rsquo;s Kranjska Gora team.</p><p>After that, it was clear Slovenia was not big enough in a hockey sense for young Kopitar, who took his act to Sweden, acquitting himself well in both the junior and senior ranks with Sodertalje.</p><p>But scouts were guarded. You said Slovenia, not Slovakia, right? Never heard of it.</p><p>One scout admitted the Slovenia thing was a factor, but teams also had other concerns.</p><p>&ldquo;People wondered if he would be able to skate in the NHL,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He was a little knock-kneed.&rdquo;</p><p>Kings GM Dean Lombardi was a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers back in 2005 and recalled the same wariness when he helmed the Sharks and took German Marco Sturm in the first round of the 1996 draft.</p><p>&ldquo;And I traded up to take him,&rdquo; Lombardi said.</p><p>Hence, mistakes were made, opportunities missed. Kopitar slipped to No. 11 in the 2005 draft, where he was happily scooped up by then-Kings GM Dave Taylor. Looking back, Kopitar should have gone second overall, after Sidney Crosby. Some NHL scouts didn&rsquo;t even want to comment for this story, since Kopitar&rsquo;s absence from their team&rsquo;s lineup is still a sore spot within their respective organizations.</p><p>But there was work to be done.</p><p>&ldquo;His poise at that age was pretty impressive,&rdquo; said Lombardi, who scouted Kopitar at an NHL rookie tournament later that summer. &ldquo;You could see the kid had really good vision, but he was raw.&rdquo;</p><p>Kopitar put up great totals in his first two NHL seasons &ndash; 138 points in 154 games &ndash; but the Kings were going nowhere. In the summer of 2008, Lombardi made a splash in free agency, though the GM considers it more of a bellyflop.</p><p>&ldquo;People thought it was great when we brought in guys like Ladislav Nagy, Tom Preissing and Michal Handzus,&rdquo; Lombardi said. &ldquo;When you have to go out and get seven or eight free agents, that&rsquo;s not a good sign.&rdquo;</p><p>The Kings&rsquo; youngsters were still too young and the vets not good enough. Worse, Los Angeles was not so much a team as it was a bunch of guys who all happened to wear black and purple on the same night 82 times a year. Lombardi noted that on most NHL teams, a cluster of players will spend a part of the summer training together in the city; it&rsquo;s good for bonding and a great way to push each other physically. So how many Kings remained in Los Angeles in the summer of 2008?</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011303/9314376-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="1398" height="2009"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Anze Kopitar is heading for big things if his rise continues as it has begun.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(NOAH GRAHAM/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Not one player stayed to train in the summer,&rdquo; said Lombardi dejectedly.</p><p>The 2008-09 season began with a new coach in Terry Murray and a new philosophy: Check like your life depended on it.</p><p>&ldquo;Last year, everything was about the checking,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;When I sat down with our scouts and coaches, we looked at goals against, shots against, Grade A scoring chances against&hellip;There were just too many.&rdquo;</p><p>Kopitar, the point-producer, was all ears.</p><p>&ldquo;He bought in 100 percent and I really liked that buy-in from him,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He was on board with everything, 200 feet.&rdquo;</p><p>While Kopitar&rsquo;s points total dipped to 66 from 77, the light went off in his head.</p><p>&ldquo;I want to be a good two-way player,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You definitely get a lot more pucks when you&rsquo;re checking and getting on top of guys&hellip; In one way, it&rsquo;s easier.&rdquo;</p><p>The Kings were also breaking in a lot of youngsters &ndash; Oscar Moller, Ted Purcell, Brian Boyle as well as current regulars Drew Doughty, Wayne Simmonds and Davis Drewiske.</p><p>&ldquo;Last year we were put together for, let&rsquo;s say, the final year of rebuilding,&rdquo; Kopitar said. &ldquo;There was a couple of rookies with no NHL experience, but now you have players like Drew and Wayne who have at least 80 games.&rdquo;</p><p>Kopitar has also had an effect on defenseman Drewiske, both as a road roommate and a formidable opponent in practice.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s his spacing, his body position,&rdquo; Drewiske said. &ldquo;I think he has a pretty good sense of if you&rsquo;re off-balance or out of position, he&rsquo;ll throw a shoulder or stick his leg out to protect the puck.&rdquo;</p><p>Playing between wingers Williams and Smyth (whose absence in late November was felt when he went down with an upper-body injury), Kopitar tore up the league, leading the NHL in scoring through 24 games with 33 points.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always thought he was a great player,&rdquo; said Smyth, who first encountered a 17-year-old &lsquo;Kopi&rsquo; at the 2005 World Championship. &ldquo;He competes, he&rsquo;s big, he&rsquo;s strong, he&rsquo;s fast and he makes plays. He&rsquo;s overlooked in many ways, but he&rsquo;s shining.&rdquo;</p><p>And the love is reciprocal.</p><p>&ldquo;We got put together right from the start of training camp and we developed great chemistry right off the bat,&rdquo; Kopitar said. &ldquo;Ryan&rsquo;s a going-to-the-net guy, me and Justin are more to the outside. Justin is a shooter, I&rsquo;m more of a playmaker. That&rsquo;s what makes it a great mix.&rdquo;</p><p>It also helps that Smyth is one of the more revered figures in the game today, a character guy who can turn a dressing room on with his gap-toothed smile.</p><p>&ldquo;When everyone gets to the dressing room and sees a guy laughing and smiling like Smitty, it carries over,&rdquo; Kopitar said. &ldquo;Soon you have 20 guys laughing and smiling.&rdquo;</p><p>His teammates describe him as a humble, laid-back guy, but nothing gets Kopitar smiling more than talking about his homeland. When Slovenia stunned Russia 1-0 in World Cup soccer qualifying in mid-November, all the boys heard about it. Smyth even got an impromptu geography lesson on one of his several dinners with Kopitar this year.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011365/9314369-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="1392" height="960"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Kopitar says it&rsquo;s an &lsquo;honor&rsquo; to take on the role of the Kings&rsquo; go-to guy on offense.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(SCOTT AUDETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;He told me his girlfriend lives on the other side of the country,&rdquo; Smyth said. &ldquo;But she&rsquo;s only two hours away. That&rsquo;s how small it is.&rdquo;</p><p>Now Ines is in L.A., as are Kopitar&rsquo;s parents, who came over from Slovenia three years ago. Younger brother Gasper plays for the Western League&rsquo;s Portland Winterhawks after spending time with the Los Angeles Jr. Kings program.</p><p>While plunking down an Eastern European family in the middle of Manhattan Beach has required an obvious adjustment for all the Kopitars, Anze feels comfortable navigating the roads of one of the world&rsquo;s most chaotic cities. Did he ever picture himself living in (or at least next to) Hollywood when he was skating around that backyard rink in Jesenice?</p><p>&ldquo;No, absolutely not,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You see Hollywood on TV, but that&rsquo;s it.&rdquo;</p><p>Not that it&rsquo;s been all sunshine in L.A. since the 6-foot-3, 222-pound center arrived. The Kings &ndash; along with Florida and Toronto &ndash; have missed the playoffs every year since the lockout, while the Kings&rsquo; relatively new neighbor, the Anaheim Ducks, won the Stanley Cup in 2007. The Kings never have.</p><p>The rebuild has been contentious, especially since the fruits are just beginning to ripen. But GM Lombardi has stressed patience and his &ldquo;I told you so!&rdquo; moment is fast approaching.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not easy for fans to understand,&rdquo; Lombardi said. &ldquo;Look at Chicago. Thirteen of their own draft picks were in the conference final last year. That&rsquo;s amazing. And that went back to what Dale Tallon started in 2002. It took them until last year when they broke through. That&rsquo;s seven years. Chicago didn&rsquo;t come out of nowhere.&rdquo;</p><p>And neither will Los Angeles. Through 25 games, the Kings boasted nine players who had already hit double-digits in points, including sophomores Doughty and Simmonds. They&rsquo;re surviving in net with unlikely starter Jonathan Quick and getting offensive contributions from captain Dustin Brown and Jarret Stoll on the second line.</p><p>&ldquo;Secondary scoring is critical in this league,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;Kopi&rsquo;s line is going to get a lot more attention from here on out and if they get shut down one night, somebody else has to be there.&rdquo;</p><p>Fortunately, the Kings are a team once again. Lombardi noted after the summer of 2008&rsquo;s oh-fer, nearly half the squad trained in town together before this season, including Kopitar, who returned from a Slovenian jaunt in July. Concentrating on running and exercises that would increase his on-ice stamina, Kopitar gave himself a chance to be all he could be for the first time in his NHL career.</p><p>&ldquo;He hadn&rsquo;t trained like a pro, and that&rsquo;s not unusual for young guys,&rdquo; Lombardi said. &ldquo;Last year he&rsquo;d be gassed halfway through a shift. There&rsquo;s still upside. He&rsquo;s going to be scary when, like (Joe) Sakic and (Steve) Yzerman, he turns that corner.&rdquo;</p><p>Indeed, with his Juggernaut frame, Kopitar is a whole lot to handle when he gets going, something teams are finding out very quickly.</p><p>&ldquo;The skill and the size and the strength have been there since he came over,&rdquo; said the rival scout. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the poise and confidence that are improving.&rdquo;</p><p>As for a ceiling on Kopitar&rsquo;s talents: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know whether there is one. It looks like he could get somewhere around 100 points this year.&rdquo;</p><p>But numbers and accolades will mean nothing if the Kings can&rsquo;t get to the post-season for the first time in Kopitar&rsquo;s career. And while the Kings prefer to put the onus on their depth, having a catalyst, a player who can be unstoppable when needed, will be the true key to the promised land.</p><p>&ldquo;If the team relies on me for offense, that&rsquo;s an honor for me,&rdquo; Kopitar said. &ldquo;I certainly want to take that challenge.&rdquo;</p><p>Whether Kopitar becomes a West Coast Crosby or SoCal Thornton remains to be seen, but the opportunity is certainly there.</p><p>&ldquo;The finest thing you can say about an athlete is that he&rsquo;s a winner,&rdquo; said Lombardi, citing Derek Jeter, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. &ldquo;I sincerely believe this kid cares and he wants it. He&rsquo;s not going to be satisfied with leading the league in points, he wants the whole package.&rdquo;</p><p>Murray was more blunt: &ldquo;Players are truly evaluated when they get to the playoffs.&rdquo;</p><p>Fair play. And if Kopitar can get the Kings into the post-season and surprise some teams with a bunch of game youngsters and savvy vets, fans in L.A. won&rsquo;t just be spray-painting his name under bridges; they&rsquo;ll be shouting it from the rooftops.</p><h2><b>2005 DRAFT DO-OVER</b></h2><p><i>With the post-lockout era about to begin, the 2005 draft was uneven and chaotic. Here&rsquo;s how it should&rsquo;ve gone down based on the success of the players today. (Real draft position in parentheses.)</i></p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02966/9314362-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="678" height="1519"></div><p>*Luc Bourdon was drafted 10th overall by Vancouver in 2005, but died in a motorcycle accident in the summer of 2008<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-01

Anze the Giant

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN DIXON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="286" height="315"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011262/9314435-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="286" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> Being partnered with a three-time Olympian may have Matt Carle in the mix to make his Games debut with Team USA.</p><p>The 25-year-old defenseman has been making progress since joining the Flyers just over a year ago, but his strides really spiked this season when he was paired up with perennial Norris Trophy candidate Chris Pronger.</p><p>Through 22 games, Carle had two goals and 14 points &ndash; and his plus-18 rating was tops in the NHL.</p><p>A graduate of the U.S. national team development program, Carle won a gold medal at the 2004 world juniors. After achieving mixed results in San Jose and Tampa Bay, Carle has blossomed with the Flyers. He wasn&rsquo;t among the 12 blueliners invited to Team USA&rsquo;s summer orientation camp, but his quality start makes him worthy of consideration for an American team that will feature much turnover.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02845/9314428-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="1039" height="922"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>American Matt Carle has found a home in Philly and may play at the Games.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(G FIUME/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Pronger, meanwhile, would likely have been a lock to represent Canada at his fourth Olympics even before he showed there&rsquo;s still lots left in the 35-year-old tank with a terrific start to the Philadelphia chapter of his career.</p><p>If Carle were to squeeze onto Team USA, it would give Philadelphia three blueline representatives at the Vancouver Games, given Kimmo Timonen will be a first-pair blueliner for the Finns.</p><p>Another candidate to represent Finland is defensive center Mika Pyorala. The 28-year-old is in his first NHL season after spending nearly a decade playing in elite leagues in Finland and Sweden. Pyorala has played for Finland in the past three World Championships.</p><p>Captain Mike Richards, meantime, is all but assured a spot on Team Canada, which will benefit greatly from his penalty killing expertise.</p><p>Sniper Jeff Carter is also in the maple leaf mix, but needs to make a big push over the final month of evaluation to gain a spot. A natural center, Carter would almost certainly be moved to the wing if he plays for Canada.</p><p>Simon Gagne played wing on the last two Canadian Olympic entries, but simultaneous hernia and abdominal surgery in early November effectively ended any chance he had at a third trip.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Philadelphia

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RICH CHERE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03643/9314473-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="286" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>LYMPICS</b> Early this season, it looked like hip and groin injuries would jeopardize Patrik Elias&rsquo; chances to make the Czech roster. But a month into his comeback, the 33-year-old said he hopes to be ready.</p><p>&ldquo;If I can play up until the Olympics, I don&rsquo;t see why I&rsquo;d skip them,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>Team USA GM Brian Burke has said Paul Martin, out with a fractured left forearm, will be on the team. Zach Parise and right winger Jamie Langenbrunner will be there, too.</p><p>Injured defenseman Johnny Oduya expects to be healed in time play for Sweden, while rookie Niclas Bergfors could be a late addition.</p><p>And, of course, Martin Brodeur is hopeful of winning the starting job for Canada.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0031-03

New Jersey

<div class="byline">&#x2013; PETER BOTTE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04498/9314504-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="280" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>LYMPICS</b> Team USA officials have been talking for months about going younger and more athletic at the 2010 Olympics. And Kyle Okposo definitely fits in with that &lsquo;Young Americans&rsquo; approach.</p><p>The 21-year-old emerging power winger was on the 34-man preliminary roster at the orientation camp in August and he&rsquo;s off to a strong two-way start this season. It won&rsquo;t hurt Okposo&rsquo;s case Isles coach Scott Gordon will serve as one of John Tortorella&rsquo;s assistants behind the U.S. bench.</p><p>Mark Streit will once again anchor the blueline for the Swiss team, which pulled off two upsets at the 2006 Games, defeating the Czech Republic and Canada before losing to Sweden in the quarterfinal.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0031-04

NY Islanders

<div class="byline">&#x2013; STEVE ZIPAY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05396/9314535-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="270" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>LYMPICS</b> Two anchors for the Rangers are expected to be centerpieces of their country&rsquo;s Olympic squads. Right winger Marian Gaborik will skate for Slovakia, while goalie Henrik Lundqvist hopes to repeat his gold medal performance from 2006 for Sweden.</p><p>Ryan Callahan, among the NHL leaders in hits, could be a role player for the U.S.</p><p>But injuries to two centers may impact their chances to compete for Team USA in Vancouver: Veteran Chris Drury (concussion), who was an Olympian in 2002 &ndash; winning silver &ndash; and 2006, and Brandon Dubinsky (broken hand), were sidelined for weeks after both were hurt Nov. 7. Drury returned in late November, but Dubinsky was still shelved.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0031-05

NY Rangers

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JOE STARKEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06333/9314566-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="320" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> Centers Sidney Crosby (Canada) and Evgeni Malkin (Russia) will be among the star attractions of their respective teams.</p><p>Defenseman Sergei Gonchar is a lock to join Malkin for the Russians, while Brooks Orpik is a good bet to provide a physical presence on the U.S. blueline. Alex Goligoski had given himself a shot at joining Orpik, but a lower-body injury sidetracked Goligoski&rsquo;s bid.</p><p>Jordan Staal could lend balance to the Canadian team with his size and shutdown ability. Marc-Andre Fleury also was making a strong bid for Team Canada, although he&rsquo;ll likely be slotted as the No. 3.</p><p>Veterans Bill Guerin (U.S.) and Martin Skoula (Czech Republic) have outside chances.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0031-06

Pittsburgh

<div class="byline">&#x2013; BOB DUFF</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="286" height="315"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011347/9314604-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="316" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> Like father, like son? That would be just fine with Ryan Suter.</p><p>The Nashville Predators defenseman figures to be part of the United States team at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and will seek to carry on a family tradition.</p><p>When Suters go to the Olympics, they win. Some even make miracles happen.</p><p>Bob Suter, Ryan&rsquo;s dad, was a member of the 1980 &lsquo;Miracle on Ice&rsquo; U.S. squad that thwarted the mighty Soviet Union powerhouse en route to the gold medal at Lake Placid.</p><p>Gary Suter, Ryan&rsquo;s uncle, helped the U.S. capture a silver medal at Salt Lake City, Utah in 1998.</p><p>&ldquo;I get goose bumps (thinking about) if I could get on the same pedestal as my dad and uncle, or just being an Olympian like my uncle and dad,&rdquo; said Ryan Suter. &ldquo;I just hope I make the team.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02904/9314597-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="1047" height="883"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Preds defender and U.S. hopeful Ryan Suter has the Olympics in his bloodline.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(RONALD MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>Suter may be the only hockey player at the 2010 Games who can say he once brought an Olympic gold medal to school. Growing up in Wisconsin, Suter&rsquo;s teachers frequently asked about his dad&rsquo;s five-ring bauble.</p><p>&ldquo;They wanted me to bring in his medal for show-and-tell,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I would leave it in my school locker overnight and my dad would say, &lsquo;You got that medal?&rsquo; and I would say, &lsquo;I left it at school.&rsquo; &rdquo;</p><p>A humble man, Bob Suter rarely mentioned his Olympic achievement in the presence of his son.</p><p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t realize (the importance of the event) until I saw an HBO special,&rdquo; said Ryan Suter. &ldquo;I still haven&rsquo;t seen the (Russian) game to this day.&rdquo;</p><p>Suter isn&rsquo;t the only Pred on the Olympic radar. Defenseman Shea Weber attended Canada&rsquo;s summer training camp.</p><p>&ldquo;Every kid dreams of playing for his country and pulling on that sweater,&rdquo; said Weber, who hails from the Vancouver area. &ldquo;That the Olympics are in Canada where I grew up makes it even more of a special opportunity.&rdquo;</p><p>Goaltender Pekka Rinne, off to a great start this season, is in a fierce battle for one of three goaltending spots on Finland&rsquo;s roster.</p><p>&ldquo;There are many great Finnish goalies in the league right now, but I feel that I have a chance to make the Olympic roster,&rdquo; Rinne said.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Nashville

<div class="byline">&#x2013; TIM SASSONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03659/9314642-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="320" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> The Hawks have plenty of Olympic candidates, but only Patrick Kane (U.S.) and Marian Hossa (Slovakia) are locks right now.</p><p>It&rsquo;s hard to imagine Duncan Keith not being one of Canada&rsquo;s defensemen, and his partner, Brent Seabrook, will merit consideration, too. After a slow start and six games missed with a concussion, Jonathan Toews was playing his way back into consideration for Canada while Patrick Sharp is a long shot.</p><p>Dustin Byfuglien&rsquo;s inconsistent first quarter muddled his chances to make the U.S. roster, although his size and ability to create havoc around the net remain in his favor.</p><p>Blueliner Niklas Hjalmarsson has a shot with Sweden, too.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0032-03

Chicago

<div class="byline">&#x2013; AARON PORTZLINE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04493/9314673-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="319" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>LYMPICS</b> The telltale signs of a sophomore slump for goalie Steve Mason have likely crushed his already slim chances of representing Canada in Vancouver.</p><p>Still, the Jackets will be represented on Team Canada by captain Rick Nash, who skated with Penguins center Sidney Crosby at the orientation camp.</p><p>Five other Jackets have a chance to wear their country&rsquo;s colors, including two Swedes &ndash; forwards Kristian Huselius and Sammy Pahlsson. Defenseman Jan Hejda is expected to represent the Czech Republic, while defenseman Fedor Tyutin has a chance to dress for Russia.</p><p>R.J. Umberger will have to play his way on to Team USA, which is a surprise considering his 26 goals last year.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0032-04

Columbus

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ANSAR KHAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05387/9314704-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="319" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> Detroit will be well-represented at the Olympics, with at least a half-dozen players likely to be selected.</p><p>Center Henrik Zetterberg and defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom and Niklas Kronwall. Kronwall will help Sweden defend its gold medal. Kronwall is due back from a sprained left MCL by mid-January. Winger Johan Franzen, however, isn&rsquo;t expected to return in time from his torn ACL. Veteran Tomas Holmstrom was a long shot to make Sweden, but should garner consideration after a strong start.</p><p>Valtteri Filppula is expected to play for Finland, despite a broken wrist that will idle him until mid-December. Pavel Datsyuk will play for Russia and Brian Rafalski for the U.S.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0032-05

Detroit

<div class="byline">&#x2013; BRUCE GARRIOCH</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="286" height="315"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011364/9314773-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="264" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> There will be a lack of Canadian content from the Senators at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.</p><p>While Daniel Alfredsson (Sweden), Jarkko Ruutu (Finland), Milan Michalek and Filip Kuba (Czech Republic), and Alexei Kovalev and Anton Volchenkov (Russia) are all virtually guaranteed spots on their respective Olympic teams, that&rsquo;s not the case for any Canadian-born Sens.</p><p>Yes, center Jason Spezza was invited to the orientation camp in Calgary in August because Anaheim&rsquo;s Ryan Getzlaf was recovering from off-season surgery, but Spezza has virtually played himself off the team through the first two months of the season and likely won&rsquo;t be considered.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02936/9314766-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="1058" height="927"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Mike Fisher has put himself on Team Canada&rsquo;s radar screen with a strong season.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>A guy who has put himself on the Team Canada radar screen is Spezza&rsquo;s teammate Mike Fisher. The two-way center sagged last year with only 13 goals and 32 points in 78 games, but is off to a good start this season &ndash; with 10 goals and 21 points through 21 games &ndash; and is playing well at both ends of the ice. Still, making the Olympic team is going to be a long shot because the competition is stiff for Fisher, especially in the middle. He has played the wing, but has looked good in at center with Kovalev.</p><p>&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m playing pretty good, but I really don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;re looking for, as a team,&rdquo; said Fisher, who played for Canada at the World Championship last spring in Switzerland. &ldquo;There are so many good players that can come in and play. Obviously, it would be definitely a thrill. Maybe they are looking at me, but who knows?</p><p>&ldquo;I feel really good. It&rsquo;s amazing what confidence will do. I just want to keep it going. I feel now I&rsquo;m playing offensively like I always knew I can.&rdquo;</p><p>Alfredsson might be the Senators player looking forward to Vancouver the most. The Swedes are returning as the defending gold medal champions after winning it all in 2006 in Turin and the 36-year-old is well aware this will likely be his last shot at another title.</p><p>For Ottawa fans, at least, the 2010 Games should be memorable: If Canada doesn&rsquo;t win, chances are a Sens player &ndash; Swedish, Russian, Czech or Finnish &ndash; will return with gold.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Ottawa

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MIKE LOFTUS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03744/9314811-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="289" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> Despite a sluggish start by some of its players, Boston can bank on sending four players to the Olympics.</p><p>Defenseman Zdeno Chara (Slovakia) and left winger Marco Sturm (Germany) are locks, goalie Tim Thomas could only be unseated by unexpectedly superior play from one or two other U.S. goalies, and if center David Krejci (Czech Republic) is on the bubble, he&rsquo;ll be inside once he hits his stride after off-season hip surgery and an in-season fight with H1N1.</p><p>Canadian hopefuls Marc Savard and Milan Lucic may not be as fortunate due to injuries, though Lucic proved upon his return in late November that his physical game remained.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0034-03

Boston

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JOHN VOGL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04599/9314842-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="314" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>LYMPICS</b> Ryan Miller has said his plan is to be one of the NHL&rsquo;s top goalies &ndash; and if that&rsquo;s not what Team USA is looking for, then so be it. But he&rsquo;s obviously the guy the U.S. wants.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very aware of how well he&rsquo;s played,&rdquo; said Maple Leafs and U.S. coach Ron Wilson. &ldquo;We expect him to be one of our goalies, if not the starter.&rdquo;</p><p>Center Tim Connolly, not invited to the orientation camp, may have put himself on Team USA&rsquo;s radar with a point-pergame start to the season.</p><p>Other Sabres with Olympic aspirations are defensemen Toni Lydman (Finland) and Henrik Tallinder (Sweden) and center Jochen Hecht (Germany). Lydman and Hecht are virtually assured to go, while Tallinder is on the bubble.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0034-04

Buffalo

<div class="byline">&#x2013; HERB ZURKOWSKY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05492/9314873-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="315" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> The Canadiens might not be dominating the NHL standings, but they&rsquo;ll be omnipresent at the Olympics.</p><p>Center Tomas Plekanec is a given on the Czech team along with, possibly, defensemen Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek. Winger Andrei Kostitsyn will be a key member for Belarus, likely to be joined by his younger brother, Sergei. Goalie Jaroslav Halak is expected to start for Slovakia.</p><p>Center Scott Gomez and winger Brian Gionta aren&rsquo;t sure things for the U.S., but it would still be a surprise if they&rsquo;re absent in Vancouver.</p><p>Andrei Markov is recovering ahead of schedule from ankle tendon surgery and, provided he&rsquo;s healthy, Russia would love to have him on its roster.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0034-05

Montreal

<div class="byline">&#x2013; TERRY KOSHAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06441/9314904-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="300" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>LYMPICS</b> The Maple Leafs were toiling in the league&rsquo;s basement, but that shouldn&rsquo;t stop more than a few of them from playing at the Olympics.</p><p>Defenseman Tomas Kaberle helped the Czechs win bronze in 2006 and this will be his third Olympics. Winger Phil Kessel, fully recovered from shoulder surgery, will be a go-to scorer for the U.S., while Mike Komisarek will man the blueline. Jason Blake is a long shot for Team USA.</p><p>Goalie Jonas Gustavsson has a chance at making Sweden&rsquo;s roster. Niklas Hagman was part of the Finnish side that won silver in the 2006 Games and has had a hot stick for Toronto. Center Mikhail Grabovski is one of the few Belarus natives in the NHL and will get the call.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0034-06

Toronto

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ELLIOTT PAP</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="286" height="315"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-011277/9314942-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="320" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>LYMPICS</b> With the Wild floundering early under the new coach-GM regime of Todd Richards and Chuck Fletcher, the stock of the team&rsquo;s Olympic hopefuls has tumbled.</p><p>Minnesota could have anywhere from two to six players headed to the 2010 Games, with the contingent led by center Mikko Koivu and goalie Niklas Backstrom, both of whom have been good from start to &lsquo;Finnish.&rsquo; Koivu is a legitimate No. 1 NHL center while Backstrom has been a model of high-end consistency since taking over the Wild&rsquo;s starting job in 2006.</p><p>Backstrom isn&rsquo;t guaranteed to start for Finland, though, as Calgary&rsquo;s Miikka Kiprusoff has the better pedigree. However, perhaps Kiprusoff&rsquo;s start-me-or-I&rsquo;ll-stay-home ultimatum in late November will work out in Backstrom&rsquo;s favor should Team Finland decide to go in another direction. Time will tell on that front, but it&rsquo;s an interesting development that bears watching. If that transpires, Backstrom figures to be No. 1 or 2, with Tampa&rsquo;s Antero Niittymaki and Nashville&rsquo;s Pekka Rinne vying for the other spot.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02900/9314935-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="1046" height="879"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Minnesota&rsquo;s Mikko Koivu and Niklas Backstrom are in Finland&rsquo;s Olympic plans.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>On defense, Canadian Brent Burns is not having a stellar season and his plus-minus will likely scare off the team&rsquo;s executive director, Steve Yzerman. Burns&rsquo; ability to play right wing is always intriguing if Canada feels it&rsquo;s necessary to have a swing player in case of injury. His concussion situation makes him a long shot, however.</p><p>The Czechs have to be gnashing their teeth over the underachieving ways of wingers Martin Havlat and Petr Sykora, both of whom were off to terrible, injury-plagued starts. Havlat has red flags &ndash; not to mention ice packs &ndash; all over him, but his talent level ensures his inclusion. Sykora has had concussion problems.</p><p>Czech defender Marek Zidlicky is a safe bet based on his power play prowess and his consistent 40-to-50 point seasons in the NHL.</p><p>Another blueliner, Kim Johnsson, is on the Swedish bubble based on his health and that of others such as Detroit&rsquo;s Niklas Kronwall, who&rsquo;s out until at least January with a sprained knee.</p><p>Antti Miettinen might be able to ride Koivu&rsquo;s coattails onto the Finnish team, but is a bubble player at this point.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Minnesota

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RANDY SPORTAK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03743/9314980-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="301" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>LYMPICS</b> Sure-fire Canadian Olympian Jarome Iginla was cold in October, but a red-hot November &ndash; 12 goals in the first 10 games of the month &ndash; put him back where everyone expected. However, he&rsquo;s about the only slam dunk for Canada on the Flames.</p><p>Blueliners Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr are all in the mix, with the most likely being Bouwmeester. Phaneuf and Regehr started poorly, but found their game as a pairing and will be given a look, but there are many others in the same boat.</p><p>Goalie Miikka Kiprusoff has been on form all season, but recently said he&rsquo;d only go to the Games as the starter for Finland. Olli Jokinen is a sure thing for the Finns.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0035-03

Calgary

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ADRIAN DATER</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-04605/9315011-1-eng-US/f0035-042.jpg" title="f0035-04" width="303" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>LYMPICS</b> Paul Stastny has a Slovakian father and spent much of his youth in Quebec, where Peter Stastny played. But Paul is a U.S. citizen and will be a big part of Team USA.</p><p>As well, Milan Hejduk again will represent the Czechs and goalie Peter Budaj will be back on the Slovakian team.</p><p>The big question, though, is whether goalie Craig Anderson will find his way onto Team USA. His play in the first part of the season definitely piqued the interest of the U.S. brass and they&rsquo;ve constantly been scouting Avs games.</p><p>Anderson has said it would be a &ldquo;dream&rdquo; to represent his country, but there is some nervousness in Colorado whether he&rsquo;ll break down in the second half if he goes to Vancouver.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0035-04

Colorado

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ROB TYCHKOWSKI</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-05513/9315042-1-eng-US/f0035-052.jpg" title="f0035-05" width="303" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> The Oilers began the year without anyone on the Canadian Olympic radar, but Dustin Penner is making a charge.</p><p>Penner showed up at training camp in shape and has been demonstrating exactly what former GM (now president) Kevin Lowe envisioned when he signed him away from Anaheim with a controversial five-year, $21-million offer sheet in 2007: a big, fast physical power forward with great hands.</p><p>Internationally, Ales Hemsky&rsquo;s point-per-game pace makes him a lock for the Czech Republic, as is D-man Lubomir Visnovsky for Slovakia.</p><p>Goalie Nikolai Khabiblin is off to a great start and is solidly in the mix for Russia.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0035-05

Edmonton

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ELLIOTT PAP</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-06463/9315073-1-eng-US/f0035-062.jpg" title="f0035-06" width="311" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> Playing on home ice in the Olympics is rare, but as many as nine Canucks could be doing so.</p><p>Roberto Luongo is virtually guaranteed a Canadian spot no matter what his stats say, while Daniel and Henrik Sedin figure to be either first- or second-line forwards for Sweden. Mikael Samuelsson and Alex Edler also have excellent chances to skate for Sweden.</p><p>Center Ryan Kesler seems a lock to skate for Team USA while blueliner Christian Ehrhoff is a certainty for Germany. Sami Salo didn&rsquo;t have a good start to the season, but Finland is lacking blueline depth so he should make it if he can stay healthy. Slovakian Pavol Demitra, with his bad shoulder, is a question mark.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0035-06

Vancouver

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ERIC DUHATSCHEK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="286" height="315"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011263/9315111-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="274" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> The Coyotes&rsquo; Ilya Bryzgalov represents one of Russia&rsquo;s true wild cards when building its men&rsquo;s Olympic hockey roster.</p><p>On a team with oodles of natural scorers and a serviceable defense corps, Russia&rsquo;s gold medal easily could rest on whomever coach Slava Bykov decides to start in goal.</p><p>That Bryzgalov is in the mix with higher-profile talents (and safer choices) such as Nikolai Khabibulin and Evgeni Nabokov stems from two factors: One, Bryzgalov was the goalie of record when Russia defeated Canada in the 2009 World Championship and played brilliantly; and, two, when the fun-loving 29-year-old gets in a zone, he has the ability to carry a team.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02842/9315104-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="1048" height="883"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>When Ilya Bryzgalov gets in a groove, he&rsquo;s capable of carrying a team far.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>He did so in the 2006 playoffs playing for Anaheim, earning shutouts in three consecutive games (tying a rookie record set by Frank Mc-Cool in 1945). He did it upon first arriving in Phoenix on the waiver wire two years ago and he was at it again in October, when his lights-out, sensational goaltending led the supposedly lowly Coyotes to the top of the Western Conference.</p><p>That Bryzgalov can run as cold as he can hot is always an area of concern, but that&rsquo;s the beauty of having three goalies from which to choose. Bykov can move Bryzgalov up or down the depth chart, depending upon his level of play at the precise moment when they need him.</p><p>Meanwhile, captain Shane Doan is one of Canada&rsquo;s most reliable players, having won two gold and two silver medals at the World Championship, and he was also on the 2004 World Cup-winning team. Though coming off the finest offensive season of his career (31 goals, 73 points), Doan is a candidate for a checking role on the Canadian team, as someone who can provide responsible two-way play.</p><p>The Coyotes have five Czech-born players - Robert Lang, Martin Hanzal, Petr Prucha and Radim Vrbata, plus underrated defenseman Zbynek Michalek &ndash; but all are long shots to crack a deep team. Vrbata and Michalek have the best chance.</p><p>Finally, there&rsquo;s Peter Mueller, whose career arc is trending down, not up, at a time when he needed a bounce-back season to be in Team USA&rsquo;s mix.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Phoenix

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ERIC STEPHENS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03692/9315149-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="307" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> They&rsquo;ve been disappointing this season, but the Ducks could have more than one-third of their roster playing in the Olympics.</p><p>Scott Niedermayer is a lock for Canada and will be considered for the team captaincy, while Ryan Getzlaf will also be there. Corey Perry&rsquo;s hot start and grit is likely to earn the winger a berth.</p><p>Bobby Ryan hasn&rsquo;t had much of an impact for the Ducks, but look for the power forward to be on Team USA. Ryan Whitney is a puck-moving possibility on the blueline.</p><p>Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu will again be linemates for Finland, while Jonas Hiller has the inside track in goal for Switzerland. Evgeny Artyukhin would add grit to Russia.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0036-03

Anaheim

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MIKE HEIKA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04549/9315180-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="318" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> If only Team Canada wasn&rsquo;t so darn deep.</p><p>Center Brad Richards is having a great season &ndash; maybe as well as he has played in the NHL. With 28 points in 21 games, he&rsquo;s on pace to break the career-best 91 points he had in Tampa in 2005-06.</p><p>But to crack Canada&rsquo;s middle? That&rsquo;s a tough one.</p><p>Richards isn&rsquo;t alone. Defenseman Stephane Robidas is having another great season, Brenden Morrow looks fully recovered from off-season knee surgery and sophomore James Neal has been spectacular. But all could stay home.</p><p>Better chances for the Stars are: Loui Eriksson (Sweden), Jere Lehtinen (Finland), Mike Modano (U.S.) and Karlis Skrastins (Latvia).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0036-04

Dallas

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JONATHAN DAVIS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05466/9315211-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="312" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>LYMPICS</b> The Kings have six players, from four countries, who can make the trip to Vancouver. Despite a recent injury, Ryan Smyth&rsquo;s outstanding start to the season &ndash; and his international resume &ndash; will work towards earning &lsquo;Captain Canada&rsquo; a spot. Drew Doughty has done everything to land a berth, but youth and Canada&rsquo;s blueline depth will probably work against him.</p><p>Dustin Brown&rsquo;s aggressive style of play fits the third-line mold for Team USA, while Jack Johnson will provide some offensive punch and heart-and-soul Rob Scuderi can help settle things down.</p><p>Alexander Frolov will be a depth player for Russia, while Michael Handzus will center the Slovaks&rsquo; second line.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0036-05

Los Angeles

<div class="byline">&#x2013; DAVID POLLAK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06411/9315242-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="308" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>LYMPICS</b> San Jose&rsquo;s entire top line &ndash; Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau &ndash; is close to a lock for Team Canada. Impressive numbers and instant chemistry.</p><p>While Heatley&rsquo;s image took something of a beating over the summer, Team Canada GM Steve Yzerman is a Heatley fan. Yzerman was also in San Jose and Anaheim for the first two games those three players were on the same line, start to finish, and had a combined 13 points.</p><p>Beyond that, Dan Boyle has overcome a slow start and is making his case to become the fourth Shark on Canada; goalie Evgeni Nabokov is a shoo-in for Russia; and defenseman Douglas Murray should get consideration for Sweden.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0036-06

San Jose

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JOHN GRIGG</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="286" height="315"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011219/9315280-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="291" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> Seen Stamkos? Steve Yzerman has.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a great scorer, his skating is fantastic; he&rsquo;s a very, very good young player,&rdquo; said the executive director of Canada&rsquo;s Olympic entry.</p><p>The No. 1 pick in 2008 is young, but not necessarily too young, even with Canada&rsquo;s history of favoring veteran-laden teams (see: Crosby, Sidney; 2006).</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the fact a guy&rsquo;s 19,&rdquo; Yzerman said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s how he plays against top players.</p><p>&ldquo;With the young guys you&rsquo;re saying &lsquo;Can he do it?&rsquo; with the older guys you&rsquo;re saying &lsquo;Can he still do it?&rsquo; &rdquo;</p><p>Stamkos has impressed this season, hovering around the NHL&rsquo;s top 10 in points and top five in goal-scoring.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02828/9315273-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1039" height="875"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Steven Stamkos is making great strides this year, maybe toward Vancouver.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(SCOTT AUDETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t help but continue to watch,&rdquo; said Yzerman flatly.</p><p>But Stamkos isn&rsquo;t the only Bolt Yzerman is making sure to see.</p><p>Right winger Martin St-Louis, 34, has also been impressive this season and has shown great chemistry with Stamkos, something sure to be taken into account as the Dec. 31 roster deadline nears.</p><p>&ldquo;Fast, skilled, competes hard; he&rsquo;s a heck of a player,&rdquo; said Yzerman of St-Louis.</p><p>When scouting Tampa Bay, the Canadian brass is also taking a long look at center Vincent Lecavalier, whose play had disappointed this season.</p><p>Statistically Lecavalier was on pace for his lowest goal total since his rookie campaign. He has looked slow and out of sorts most of the year, when many expected a huge season after playing through a wrist injury last year. Lecavalier may be playing his way off the team.</p><p>Of course, it&rsquo;s not just potential Canadian Olympians scouts are watching in Tampa.</p><p>Sweden&rsquo;s Mattias Ohlund will be at the Games and could very well fill out a defensive pairing with young Victor Hedman in Vancouver. And Andrej Meszaros will be on the blueline for Slovakia.</p><p>Left winger Ryan Malone &ndash; linemate of Stamkos and St-Louis &ndash; also set a scorching goal-scoring pace through the first two months, making his case for a spot on Team USA.</p><p>Antero Niittymaki is in the Finnish goaltending picture, ranking among the NHL leaders in save percentage and goals-against average.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Tampa Bay

<div class="byline">&#x2013; GUY CURTRIGHT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03665/9315318-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="310" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> A couple of pleasant surprises could see Atlanta sending six or seven players to the Olympics in February.</p><p>Speedy Max Afinogenov, unwanted in Buffalo following a seasons of injuries and inconsistency, has regained his scoring touch and may join linemate Ilya Kovalchuk on the Russian team. Meanwhile, Ondrej Pavelec, 22, has become Atlanta&rsquo;s No. 1 goalie and is a likely pick by the Czechs.</p><p>Zach Bogosian might have played his way onto Team USA, but at 19 he remains behind Ron Hainsey in the pecking order. Other defensemen bidding for spots are Pavel Kubina (Czech), Tobias Enstrom (Sweden), Christoph Schubert (Germany) and Boris Valabik (Slovakia).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-03

Atlanta

<div class="byline">&#x2013; LUKE DECOCK</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04537/9315349-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="318" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> What Carolina&rsquo;s dismal start hasn&rsquo;t done to damage the Olympic hopes of its players, injuries have.</p><p>Eric Staal and Cam Ward were serious contenders for spots on Team Canada, but Staal&rsquo;s torn abdominal muscle and Ward&rsquo;s lacerated leg knocked both out of the lineup for an extended period of time.</p><p>Tim Gleason was the only Cane invited to Team USA&rsquo;s off-season camp and has an outside shot, but the hopes of Erik Cole, Joe Corvo, Matt Cullen and Chad LaRose are dim.</p><p>One team that will have a serious Hurricanes contingent: Finland. Look for Tuomo Ruutu, Joni Pitkanen and Jussi Jokinen all to play in Vancouver. All three have performed well despite Carolina&rsquo;s record.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-04

Carolina

<div class="byline">&#x2013; GEORGE RICHARDS</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05432/9315380-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="320" height="167"></div><p><b>OLYMPICS</b> Goalie Tomas Vokoun brought home a bronze medal from Turin in 2006 and he&rsquo;s hoping for an even nicer souvenir from Vancouver.</p><p>Vokoun, who figures to start for the Czechs, will be the second consecutive Florida starter to participate in an Olympics as Roberto Luongo was a part of Team Canada in 2006. Vokoun had a rough start this season, but has ramped up his play and helped Florida return to respectability. Rostislav Olesz and Michael Frolik could join Vokoun on the Czechs.</p><p>Winger David Booth was expected to receive an invitation from Team USA, but he&rsquo;s had a slow recovery from a concussion. Defenseman Dennis Seidenberg will be a key cog for Germany.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-05

Florida

<div class="byline">&#x2013; PETER KERZEL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06367/9315411-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="320" height="167"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>O</span>LYMPICS</b> Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin power an impressive Russian offense, though both have been nursing upper-body injuries. Luckily, they&rsquo;re nothing serious and there&rsquo;s a lot of time to get healthy before the Olympics.</p><p>Meantime, center Nicklas Backstrom&rsquo;s pretty passing game should flourish in a creative Swedish scheme. Canadian Mike Green&rsquo;s goal totals are down because teams are keying on him, but he&rsquo;s adjusting and becoming a defensive playmaker. Left winger Tomas Fleischmann is forcing his way into consideration for the Czech Republic after starting the season on the shelf.</p><p>Only an injury would open the door for Russian goalie Semyon Varlamov.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0038-06

Washington

f0040-01

WESTERN CONFERENCE

f0041-01

EASTERN CONFERENCE

<div class="byline">BY TIM CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01739/9315546-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="880" height="1083"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>L</span>EARNING TO INCORPORATE</b> creative instincts into responsibilities on both sides of the puck is often the make-or-break factor in a prospect&rsquo;s elevation to a regular NHL job.</p><p>With Texas Stars right winger Raymond Sawada, such complications are unlikely.</p><p>The 24-year-old from Richmond, B.C., will either move from Point A to Point B quickly, directly and with some measure of force or he will be an ex-prospect who employed too many curved lines in his game.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen the speed and straight-line attack he has,&rdquo; said Texas coach Glen Gulutzan of Dallas&rsquo; second round draft pick (52nd overall) in 2004. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s going to fit in well here, but Dallas has kind of changed with (coach) Marc (Crawford)&hellip; that&rsquo;s how they want to play, too.</p><p>&ldquo;That will bode well for Ray. He&rsquo;s a big body with a lot of speed.&rdquo;</p><p>Sawada, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound hitter, had a sneak peek at the possibilities last season, when, as a rookie-pro, he was called up by Dallas for five games, scoring his first NHL goal.</p><p>&ldquo;It made me realize the level of play you have to come out with every night,&rdquo; Sawada said. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to be a fourth-line guy coming in, or a third-line guy, you have to be defensively sound and make sure the pucks go in deep and that you&rsquo;re doing that job.&rdquo;</p><p>So artistry is definitely out, but that simplifies things for Sawada, who has more than NHL fourth-liner potential.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s such an athlete, a specimen,&rdquo; Gulutzan said. &ldquo;A big, strong athletic guy who works real hard. How long he&rsquo;ll be here I don&rsquo;t know, but it&rsquo;s good for him to be finally up and running.&rdquo;</p><p>Sawada&rsquo;s 2009-10 debut was stalled a month after he dislocated his thumb in a pre-season fight with Portland&rsquo;s Hans Benson.</p><p>&ldquo;The in-your-face style is why he came after me, I think,&rdquo; Sawada said. &ldquo;I was playing that way against their top players and pissing people off, which is kind of what (the coaches) want me to do.&rdquo;</p><p>Sawada&rsquo;s assertive stye was learned last year with the Manitoba Moose because Dallas didn&rsquo;t have an AHL affiliate at that time. He had an inconsistent regular season, but was more steady and sturdy in Manitoba&rsquo;s 22-game playoff grind to the Calder Cup final.</p><p>&ldquo;(I learned) how difficult it is mentally to be ready to play every game,&rdquo; Sawada said. &ldquo;When you go that far, you really see that.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02464/9315539-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="196" height="195"></div><h2><b>Raymond Sawada</b></h2><p>Texas Stars</p><p><b>Ht.</b> 6-2</p><p><b>Wt.</b> 205</p><p><b>Pos.</b> LW</p><p><b>Age</b> 24</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03362/9315532-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="177" height="98"></div><h2><b>AND COUNTING</b></h2><p><b>+19</b></p><p>Sawada&rsquo;s plus-minus rating in 72 career AHL games</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-04291/9315525-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="179" height="179"></div><h3><b>Hey, Cal O&rsquo;Reilly!</b></h3><h2><b>EXPECT THE CALL</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-05251/9315518-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="202" height="117"></div><p>The 23-year-old, 6-foot, 187-pounder possesses an all-around game well suited to the NHL. He leads the Admirals in plus-minus and scoring, and gets more consistent with every game he plays as a pro.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-06224/9315511-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg" title="f0042-06" width="182" height="254"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(RON BYRD/TEXAS STARS)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-07190/9315504-1-eng-US/f0042-072.jpg" title="f0042-07" width="285" height="83"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0042-01

STICKING TO BASICS

<div class="byline">BY KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01728/9315629-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="889" height="1092"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>W</span>HEN MATT TAORMINA&rsquo;S</b> four-year career at Providence College ended, scouts believed the smallish defenseman possessed pro potential. What level of professional hockey, they weren&rsquo;t sure.</p><p>But an 11-game tryout stint with the Binghamton Senators at the end of last season resulted in two goals and five points, offering a glimpse of Taormina&rsquo;s potential.</p><p>The New Jersey Devils inked him to a two-way American League-ECHL deal prior to this season and if the first quarter of the 2009-10 AHL campaign is any indication, he&rsquo;ll need an NHL amendment to his contract soon. Through 21 games with the Lowell Devils, Taormina was leading AHL defensemen in goals with seven and was third among blueliners with 17 points.</p><p>&ldquo;At the start of camp we weren&rsquo;t sure what we had,&rdquo; said Lowell coach John MacLean. &ldquo;You always wonder if a guy can do it at the next level (the AHL from college) and so far he&rsquo;s done it.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s definitely an upside because he can move. He moves the puck well, he skates well, he has a good shot and he competes. The thing everyone needs is experience.&rdquo;</p><p>Enhancing Taormina&rsquo;s value is that he&rsquo;s not just a get-the-puck-and-go gambler.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s so smart,&rdquo; MacLean said. &ldquo;He knows when to go and when not to go, and he&rsquo;s got that shot from the point.&rdquo;</p><p>Indeed, for a guy who weighs 185 pounds and stands only 5-foot-9 (5-foot-10 if he&rsquo;s up on his toes), Taormina can let it fly.</p><p>A rebuilt shoulder following his freshman season at Providence required six months of healing, then nearly a year of restoring strength and reconstructing his shot. There were long afternoons of just shooting pucks, work that paid off.</p><p>But the 23-year-old from Washington Township, Mich., is beyond the stage of showing off his slapper.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d always want to wind up with that slapshot,&rdquo; he said of a time earlier in his career. &ldquo;But half the time a guy would get his stick on it. Now it&rsquo;s just get it to the net.&rdquo;</p><p>Despite the success this year, Taormina is not getting too comfortable. He knows the 80-game AHL season will be a durability test after playing roughly 40 times each year in the NCAA.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a sprint here, it&rsquo;s a marathon,&rdquo; Taormina said. &ldquo;I have to fix some things and get better at some things. I&rsquo;m always going to have to work for my spot.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04311/9315622-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="196" height="195"></div><h2><b>Matt Taormina</b></h2><p>Lowell Devils</p><p><b>Ht.</b> 5-9</p><p><b>Wt.</b> 185</p><p><b>Pos.</b> D</p><p><b>Age</b> 23</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-05268/9315615-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="175" height="90"></div><h2><b>AND COUNTING</b></h2><p><b>1</b></p><p>Taormina ranked first in goals among AHL D-men with seven</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02494/9315608-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="182" height="251"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JASON KENNEDY/LOWELL DEVILS)</span></figcaption></div><h2><b>ROOKIE SCORING</b></h2><p><b>Tyler Ennis</b></p><p>Portland Pirates</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03410/9315601-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="178" height="92"></div><h2><b>ON TOP</b></h2><p><b>19 &rarr;</b>&nbsp;<b>POINTS</b></p><p>Christian Hanson, Tor 18</p><p>Sergei Shirokov, Mtb 17</p><p>Matt Taormina, Low 17</p><p>Andrei Loktionov, Man 17</p><p>Nathan Perkovich, Low 16</p><p>Logan Couture, Wor 14</p><p>Evgeny Grachev, Hfd 14<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0043-01

LOOKING LIKE A PRO

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEVIN OKLOBZIJA</div><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>hen the Syracuse Crunch and Binghamton Senators play outside on Feb. 20, it will be more than just the first outdoor game in AHL history. The AHL&rsquo;s version of the Winter Classic will be a week-long hockey carnival for up to 20,000 fans.</p><p>&ldquo;This is going to be a celebration of New York hockey,&rdquo; said Crunch owner Howard Dolgon. &ldquo;This will be the best single-day sporting event in Central New York history.&rdquo;</p><p>The Mirabito Outdoor Classic, which will feature party tents, RV camping and hot tubs, will also be a major gamble by the host Crunch.</p><p>Even after sponsorships and an economic-development grant from the state, the team will invest as much as a half-million dollars to put on the game at the New York State Fairgrounds.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely a risk and when you&rsquo;re talking about a one-day event, it&rsquo;s a bigger risk,&rdquo; Dolgon said. &ldquo;But this is all about being able to do something special.</p><p>Dolgon isn&rsquo;t too worried about failure, though. Bleachers and standing room will push available seating to between 17,000 and 21,000. Tickets will be $30 and $40. There also will be some $50 VIP seats.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

OUTDOOR CLASH

<div class="byline">&#x2013; DENIS GIBBONS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01631/9315691-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Ten years after devastating eye injury, Mattias Weinhandl is ripping up the KHL.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(WEINHANDL: NORMUNDS BRICS/JANSONS MEDIA)</span></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>T</span>HE LAST TIME</b> a Swedish hockey player took Moscow by storm was in 1957 when the legendary Sven &lsquo;Tumba&rsquo; Johansson led the Tre Kronor to the World Championship gold medal in front of 50,000 fans outdoors at Lenin Stadium in Luzhniki.</p><p>Now Mattias Weinhandl is creating a new stir as star of Moscow Dynamo, as well as making a very strong case for the inclusion of at least one non-NHL player on Sweden&rsquo;s Olympic roster.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02392/9315684-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="228" height="248"></div><p>Following Dynamo&rsquo;s 25th game, Weinhandl was second in KHL scoring, behind Maxim Sushinsky of SKA St. Petersburg, with 13 goals and 31 points.</p><p>&ldquo;The league is really good and gets better with every new great player, Weinhandl said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not the NHL, but the level of play is higher than in the Swedish Elitserien. It&rsquo;s a little faster here.&rdquo;</p><p>Coach Andrei Khomutov has Weinhandl playing on a line with former NHLers Jiri Hudler and Vitaly Yachmenev. Two other young Swedish stars of the future &ndash; Linus Omark, a 2007 draft pick (97th overall) of the Edmonton Oilers, and Johan Harju, a Tampa Bay Lightning pick (167th) the same year &ndash; are in their first KHL season with Dynamo and learning everything they can from Weinhandl.</p><p>Weinhandl, 29, and his girlfriend Sara live in the outskirts of Moscow. He said the traffic is so bad that it can sometimes take 90 minutes to drive in for games. Nevertheless, he is enjoying life in the Russian capital so much he is thinking about staying for another year.</p><p>He actually is on loan from the Swedish franchise Linkoping, with whom he has a contract through the 2011-12 season.</p><p>As far as the Olympics go, Weinhandl said he&rsquo;ll await the release of the official Swedish roster in December. But he&rsquo;s going to be difficult to ignore after leading Sweden in scoring at the past two World Championships.</p><p>In 2008-09, Weinhandl sustained a knee injury in the pre-season and missed the first 14 games of the KHL campaign. But he was able to spark Dynamo to the Spengler Cup title last December, tying teammate Dmitry Afanasenkov for the tournament scoring lead.</p><p>It has been 10 years since Weinhandl&rsquo;s hockey career almost ended after Czech player Michal Travnicek, a 1998 draft choice of the Toronto Maple Leafs, struck him in the left eye with his stick in an international junior match. Weinhandl&rsquo;s forehead was fractured and the vision in his eye was reduced to 10 per cent. The IIHF banned Travnicek from playing for three years.</p><p>Weinhandl has matured immensely from the time he was drafted 78th overall by the New York Islanders in 1999. He played in the NHL YoungStars Game during the 2002-03 season and appeared in 182 NHL games for the Islanders and Minnesota Wild before returning to Sweden for the 2007-08 season and finishing second in league scoring with Linkoping.</p><p>Earlier in his career, he played on a line with the Sedin twins with MoDo of the Swedish Elite League.</p><p>If the stars align for Weinhandl, he may be wearing the same jersey as Daniel and Henrik at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0044-01

‘HANDL’ WITH CARE

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RISTO PAKARINEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-03292/9315729-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="502" height="632"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-04235/9315722-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="207" height="124"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he KHL, headed by president <b>Alexander Medvedev,</b> also a council member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and chairman of SKA St. Petersburg, seems to be busy &lsquo;unfriending&rsquo; other European federations.</p><p>Last season, Medvedev, as vice-chairman of natural gas giant Gazprom, pulled out of the Champions League after just one season, despite a binding three-year contract.</p><p>When a new investor group was to relaunch the Champions League in 2010, the Russians demanded a timeout, citing quibbles with the marketing company. IIHF vice-president Kalervo Kummola told Finnish broadcaster YLE the league might have to be played without Russian teams.</p><p>The dust had hardly started to settle when Solna AIK (Stockholm) announced they had signed a letter of intent to join the KHL, pending the approval of their members and the Swedish federation. Christer Englund, chairman of the Swedish federation, wasn&rsquo;t amused with Medvedev.</p><p>&ldquo;He promised he would keep us informed about events in Sweden, several times, and still he just keeps doing his own thing. I am deeply disappointed and I don&rsquo;t trust him anymore,&rdquo; Englund told Dagens <i>Nyheter</i>.</p><p>But when the new Champions League lost a key investor a few days later, the IIHF had to come up with an emergency plan, which, according to Sweden&rsquo;s <i>Expressen</i>, amounted to going back to Medvedev to see if Gazprom would invest again.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0044-03

EURO TRASH TALK

<div class="byline">&#x2013; TOM BOGGIE</div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>C</span>ORNELL SENIOR</b> left winger Colin Greening has it all: size, strength, patience with the puck &ndash; all the tools a player needs to be successful in pro hockey.</p><p>But, oddly enough, the chiseled 6-foot-2, 211-pounder may have to leave a couple of tools in the box after he leaves Cornell.</p><p>&ldquo;If I want to take the next step, I have to embrace the role of a power forward,&rdquo; said the native of St. John&rsquo;s, Nfld., who was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the seventh round (204th overall) of the 2005 draft. &ldquo;I think, right now, I&rsquo;m a more unique definition of a power forward. If you think of someone who just grinds along the boards, then that&rsquo;s inaccurate, because I think I bring more to the game.&rdquo;</p><p>Big Red coach Mike Schafer has seen that growth: &ldquo;He can definitely be a power forward, but has added an element of patience and poise to his game.&rdquo;</p><p>Greening, who carries a 3.95 grade-point average in applied economics and management, picked up a lot of that patience when he attended the Senators&rsquo; developmental camp in the summer.</p><p>&ldquo;There is an awful lot of talent out there,&rdquo; said Greening, who led the Big Red in scoring as a sophomore and was second to current junior Riley Nash last season. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m used to playing against college players, but in camp, I was playing against Europeans, guys who have already played in the pros. I saw the diversity in the skill set, and it showed me how good you&rsquo;ve got to be to make the jump.&rdquo;</p><p>Greening tried the patience of a lot of Cornell fans during the summer, when there was speculation both he and Nash, a 2007 first-rounder for Edmonton, would turn pro. But if someone had bothered to ask Greening, he would have told them not to worry.</p><p>&ldquo;Last summer, I probably would have given them 95 percent that I was coming back,&rdquo; said Greening, who is a candidate for the Lowe&rsquo;s Senior CLASS Award, given to a player who excels in the classroom and the community, and who demonstrates outstanding character. &ldquo;Certainly, I knew there was a chance I would leave, but I didn&rsquo;t know what (the Senators) were going to offer me or what circumstances were going to unfold. I knew coming back was the best option for me.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01539/9315781-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="684" height="925"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PATRICK SHANAHAN/CORNELL ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02347/9315774-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="256" height="256"></div><h2><b>Colin Greening</b></h2><p>Cornell Big Red</p><p><b>Ht.</b> 6-2</p><p><b>Wt.</b> 211</p><p><b>Pos.</b> LW</p><p><b>Age</b> 23</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-03292/9315767-1-eng-US/f0045-032.jpg" title="f0045-03" width="343" height="83"></div><h2><b>Draft Status</b></h2><p>Drafted 204th overall by Ottawa in 2005.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-04260/9315760-1-eng-US/f0045-042.jpg" title="f0045-04" width="169" height="93"></div><h2><b>AND COUNTING</b></h2><p><b>13</b></p><p>Points in eight games puts Greening on pace for his best season yet.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0045-01

FORWARD THINKER

<div class="byline">&#x2013; LARRY MAHONEY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-06201/9315843-1-eng-US/f0045-062.jpg" title="f0045-06" width="289" height="130"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>L</span>ast season was difficult for Boston College senior right winger Ben Smith. After collecting 50 points, including 25 goals, in 44 games during BC&rsquo;s national championship run two years ago, a sports hernia limited him to just 17 points in 37 games last year. But Smith had surgery in April and has bounced back nicely, stringing together a stretch in which he scored goals in eight of nine games. &ldquo;He has played unbelievable this year,&rdquo; said goalie John Muse. &ldquo;He could have shut it down last year and had the surgery, but he wanted to be with us, so he kept playing. A hurt Ben is better than no Ben.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0045-06

SURGICAL PRECISION

<div class="byline">&#x2013; TOM BOGGIE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-07177/9315874-1-eng-US/f0045-072.jpg" title="f0045-07" width="295" height="90"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>t&rsquo;s really no secret why Quinnipiac senior center Brandon Wong is once again ripping up the ECAC. &ldquo;Last year, he was injured. This year, he&rsquo;s been healthy,&rdquo; said Bobcats coach Rand Pecknold. Wong, a native of Surrey, B.C., was named the ECAC co-rookie of the year after putting up 44 points as a freshman, and came back with 37 points as a sophomore. But a knee injury kept him out of the lineup for more than a month last season, sending the Bobcats into a tailspin. This year, he&rsquo;s again the leading scorer (16 points in 11 games) as the Bobcats jumped out to a 10-1 start.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0045-07

WONG WICKED, NOT WONKY

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ANDY BAGGOT</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-08112/9315905-1-eng-US/f0045-082.jpg" title="f0045-08" width="354" height="78"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>P</span>erennial power Minnesota has struggled mightily out of the gate, winning four of its first 12 games, leading to Internet whispers that standout sophomore center Jordan Schroeder might bolt for the NHL. A 22nd overall pick by Vancouver in 2009, Schroeder took the unusual step of releasing a statement through the school: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m fully committed to this team and university,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have no intention of leaving college early to play pro hockey.&rdquo; The Gophers have 20 NHL draft picks on the roster, but struggled on offense and had the worst power play in the conference through 12 games.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0045-08

SCHROEDER COMMITTED

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ROB VANSTONE</div><p><b>WHEN HE FIRST</b> put on skates, Stefan Elliott hit the ice &ndash; literally.</p><p>&ldquo;My mom told me that I couldn&rsquo;t stand up and basically I cried my eyes out,&rdquo; said Elliott, an 18-year-old defenseman with the Western League&rsquo;s Saskatoon Blades. &ldquo;The second time, I was able to stand up and I liked it.&rdquo;</p><p>It was all smooth skating following Elliott&rsquo;s second session at the North Shore Winter Club in his native North Vancouver, B.C.</p><p>The 6-foot-1, 191-pounder has developed into one of major junior&rsquo;s elite defensemen, thanks in large part to his ability to navigate the ice at a high tempo.</p><p>&ldquo;Some of the skating ability does come naturally,&rdquo; Elliott said. &ldquo;Then it&rsquo;s kind of what you do with what was given to you.&rdquo;</p><p>Elliott&rsquo;s skating is an asset offensively and when making up ice on any puck-carrier who happens to gain a momentary edge.</p><p>&ldquo;I like to join the rush and carry the puck,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I like to skate and I try to use it to my advantage.&rdquo;</p><p>The Colorado Avalanche took notice of Elliott&rsquo;s skills, selecting him in the second round (49th overall) of the 2009 draft.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be an offensive type at the next level,&rdquo; said Blades coach-GM Lorne Molleken. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s his strength. As well, I don&rsquo;t know of anyone in the league who has a better wrist shot. You seldom see him take a slapshot.&rdquo;</p><p>Elliott rarely delivers a resounding hit, but his cerebral play makes him sound defensively. He has a knack for pokechecking and for subtly positioning his body and stick to put attackers in disadvantageous positions.</p><p>&ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t have to hit people because he puts people where he wants them,&rdquo; Molleken said.</p><p>Saskatoon acquired Elliott&rsquo;s rights from the Prince George Cougars midway through the 2006-07 in a deal that sent current San Jose Sharks sniper Devin Setoguchi to the B.C.-based team.</p><p>&ldquo;We knew that Stefan had talent and that he would be a real good player, but it&rsquo;s hard to know how they&rsquo;re going to end up,&rdquo; Molleken said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really a credit to him and his commitment.&rdquo;</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01535/9315957-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="683" height="926"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(STEVE HISCOCK PHOTOGRAPHY)</span></figcaption></div><p>Elliott is also committed to education. Last season, he was named the WHL and CHL scholastic player of the year.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to have something to fall back on,&rdquo; Elliott said.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02338/9315950-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="324" height="173"></div><h2><b>Stefan Elliott</b></h2><p>Saskatoon Blades</p><p><b>Ht.</b>6-1</p><p><b>Wt.</b> 191</p><p><b>Pos.</b> D</p><p><b>Age</b> 18</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-03245/9315943-1-eng-US/f0046-032.jpg" title="f0046-03" width="343" height="83"></div><h2><b>Draft Status</b></h2><p>Drafted 49th overall by Colorado in 2009</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-04202/9315936-1-eng-US/f0046-042.jpg" title="f0046-04" width="166" height="101"></div><h2><b>AND COUNTING</b></h2><p><b>.73</b></p><p>Elliott&rsquo;s points-per-game average in 164 career games with Saskatoon<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0046-01

FAST TRACK FOR ELLIOTT

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ROB VANSTONE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-05160/9315988-1-eng-US/f0046-052.jpg" title="f0046-05" width="257" height="148"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>heaton King is an ideal Wheat King. &ldquo;My name is a pure coincidence,&rdquo; said the rookie left winger with the Brandon Wheat Kings. &ldquo;I was named Wheaton because I grew up on a wheat farm in Elgin, Manitoba.&rdquo; He also grew up a Wheat Kings fan, given Elgin&rsquo;s proximity to Brandon. As a youngster, his family had season tickets. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d get a lot of people talking to me about perhaps playing for them in the future, but I never thought it would actually happen,&rdquo; said King, 17, whom Brandon selected in the sixth round of the 2007 bantam draft. He is the second member of the family to play for Brandon. His elder brother, Sanfred King, 19, spent a season and a half with the Wheat Kings before sustaining a broken leg in January.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0046-05

WINGER DESTINED FOR WHEAT KINGS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JIM CRESSMAN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-06139/9316019-1-eng-US/f0046-062.jpg" title="f0046-06" width="301" height="94"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he OHL awarded a record 355 scholarships for the 2009-10 academic year. Last season the number was 316. The recipients consist of 164 student-athletes currently in the league, with another 191 OHL alumni enrolled in 65 universities and colleges across North America. While in the league, every player receives a full scholarship covering tuition, books, compulsory fees and room and board, all paid by his team. Once a player graduates from the league, he receives a minimum scholarship of tuition, books and compulsory fees toward an undergraduate degree for each year played, unless he turns pro. A scholarship can also be applied to technical or trade schools, firefighting or EMS and at any university or college in the world.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0046-06

HIGHER EDUCATION FOR LEAGUE ALUMS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; NEIL HODGE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-07114/9316050-1-eng-US/f0046-072.jpg" title="f0046-07" width="237" height="140"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>oncton Wildcats left winger Kirill Kabanov, a projected 2010 first round NHL pick, is expected to miss 10 to 12 weeks following wrist surgery on Nov. 19. &ldquo;I think when I come back I will play better&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was in pain the whole season. I don&rsquo;t think I was at my best because of that.&rdquo; The 17-year-old Russian rookie has five goals and 14 points in 11 games. NHL Central Scouting ranks him as the QMJHL&rsquo;s second-best prospect among skaters, but it remains to be seen whether being out of the scouting spotlight for a lengthy period will impact his stock. &ldquo;I will try to use this as motivation to have a strong finish to the season and playoffs,&rdquo; Kabanov said. &ldquo;I injured my wrist in the KHL last season. I should&rsquo;ve had surgery then, but I had bad medical advice.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0046-07

KABANOV HOPES SURGERY A BOON

<div class="byline">by Nicolas Chabot</div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>P</span>RODUCTION FLUCTUATION</b> is an inevitable and enticing aspect of sports. The factors behind a rise and fall vary from general volatility to a team finally hitting its stride.</p><p>Anze Kopitar is the poster boy for breakout players this season, but he&rsquo;s not alone. Youngsters Steven Stamkos and James Neal have seen a huge spike in their numbers as sophomores, while career up-and-downers Brendan Morrison, Ryan Malone and Maxim Afinogenov are back living the high life.</p><p>Meanwhile, Nashville&rsquo;s Martin Erat was averaging nearly a point per game at this time last year; this season, he&rsquo;s averaging a point every four contests.</p><p>How many people predicted the 2009 Eastern Conference finalists from Carolina being blown right off the map? Chalk it up to the winds of change doing their annual thing.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02326/9316116-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="642" height="975"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>JAMES NEAL</b></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03260/9316109-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg" title="f0047-03" width="117" height="118"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-04199/9316102-1-eng-US/f0047-042.jpg" title="f0047-04" width="812" height="1124"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-05149/9316095-1-eng-US/f0047-052.jpg" title="f0047-05" width="2142" height="1192"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(JEFF GROSS/GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-01369/9316088-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg" title="f0048-01" width="2142" height="864"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-02233/9316081-1-eng-US/f0048-022.jpg" title="f0048-02" width="60" height="61"></div><p>Can&rsquo;t get enough numbers? Visit our online &lsquo;Stats&rsquo; section every day at <a href="http://TheHockeyNews.com">thehockeynews.com</a><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p></div>

f0047-02

TRACKING THE TRENDS

<div class="byline">By Larry Humber</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-02240/9316154-1-eng-US/f0049-022.jpg" title="f0049-02" width="913" height="913"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01333/9316161-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg" title="f0049-01" width="140" height="139"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><p><b>ANSWERS AVAILABLE IN THE NEXT ISSUE AND AT <a href="http://THN.com/XWORD">THN.com/xword</a></b></p><h2><b>ACROSS</b></h2><p>1 He used to be the captain in San Jose</p><p>4 Where Rick Tocchet now coaches</p><p>7 He&rsquo;s coach in Buffalo</p><p>8 One-sided game</p><p>10 Paul Maurice is back behind this team&rsquo;s bench</p><p>12 First name of 4 Down</p><p>13 Retire</p><p>14 &lsquo;Terrible ___&rsquo; ___ was Detroit&rsquo;s captain, coach and GM</p><p>18 He&rsquo;s captain in Columbus, pictured</p><p>19 ___ Gillis spent time with five NHL teams</p><p>20 ___ Carter&rsquo;s goal gave Canada the World Championship in 2003</p><p>21 Bruins great ___ Bourque</p><h2><b>DOWN</b></h2><p>1 The regular season&rsquo;s last full month</p><p>2 Brad Watson and Dan Marouelli are two</p><p>3 A former AHL city</p><p>4 He&rsquo;s GM in Edmonton</p><p>5 Former Leaf and Canuck ___ Sundin</p><p>6 Wayne Gretzky was Canada&rsquo;s ___ of the Year from 1980-83</p><p>9 He wore 30 in Calgary, a number now retired</p><p>11 He&rsquo;s the GM in Pittsburgh</p><p>12 Where &lsquo;Jags&rsquo; played during the lockout</p><p>15 Also-ran</p><p>16 Surrender</p><p>17 Sends the puck the length of the rink</p><p><b>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S CROSSWORD SOLUTION ACROSS</b> 1. SHARK, 8. MEDICINE, 9. SLUMP, 10. KINGSTON, 11. CIGAR, 14. GRETZ, 15. BARRY, 20. JIMMY, 21. OPTIONAL, 22. KEITH, 23. BOBBY ORR, 24. BUNNY <b>DOWN</b> 2. HILLIARD, 3. REMPARTS, 4. KEVIN, 5. KINGS, 6. SIXTY, 7. HEINZ, 12. GATINEAU, 13. BRAMPTON, 16. ZOMBO, 17. STABS, 18. ROUYN, 19. HARRY</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-03181/9316147-1-eng-US/f0049-032.jpg" title="f0049-03" width="1541" height="768"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0049-02

CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-05123/9316192-1-eng-US/f0049-052.jpg" title="f0049-05" width="683" height="653"><figcaption class="caption-body"><p><b>MONTREAL CANADIENS</b></p><p>2009-10</p> <span class="photo-credit">(FRANCOIS LACASSE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-04163/9316199-1-eng-US/f0049-042.jpg" title="f0049-04" width="140" height="140"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>A</span>s part of the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; 100th anniversary, the venerable franchise has rolled out a series of throwback jerseys to commemorate the occasion. Some, like the &lsquo;CA&rsquo; logo from 1913-14 were similar to the current sweater and very nice. Others, such as the thinly striped barber pole duds or the Minnesota Wild knockoffs veered towards criminally bad. But the blue jerseys representing Montreal&rsquo;s first NHL season really came through. Nothing fancy, just a big &lsquo;C&rsquo; and some cool white striping, but it works.</p></div><div style="clear: both;"><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></div>

f0049-05

JERSEY Hound

<div class="byline">with Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0050-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-02221/9316230-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>CRISTOBAL HUET</b> <span class="photo-credit">(BILL SMITH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01317/9316237-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="187" height="222"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>C</span>RISTOBAL HUET MAKES A POINT</b> about NHL goaltending that is often easy to overlook. The difference between his glacially slow start to the season &ndash; when it seemed for a time as if the Chicago Blackhawks were unwilling to play him at home, for fear of encouraging the boo-birds &ndash; and the abrupt turnaround that dramatically reversed his own, and the team&rsquo;s fortune, came down to one save per game.</p><p>It doesn&rsquo;t sound like much, does it?</p><p>One save per game over a 60- to 65-minute night of work sounds so manageable, so little to ask for. And yet, one save per game is the difference between the new gold standard in the post-lockout NHL &ndash; a goals-against average in the low 2.00s &ndash; and one that&rsquo;ll put you in the American League faster than you can say Blaine Lacher.</p><p>&ldquo;It was just a matter of making one more save per game,&rdquo; said Huet of his October struggles, when the Blackhawks were on the verge of a full-fledged goalie controversy, &ldquo;and I wasn&rsquo;t making those.</p><p>&ldquo;I went back to basics, worked hard, tried to refocus, re-energize myself and take things one game at a time.&rdquo;</p><p>In that wonderfully revitalized Chicago market, the spotlight and the heavy weight of expectation falls on Huet more so than any other player on the Blackhawks roster. In a city that has seen goaltending greats come along generation by generation &ndash; Glenn Hall, Tony Esposito, Eddie Belfour &ndash; the Windy City can be an enthralling place to play. It may not be the Chicago Stadium, but in terms of atmosphere, there is no better home than the United Center in the moment after the national anthems are sung for that shiver of adrenaline that runs down an athlete&rsquo;s spine.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>&lsquo;HUEY&rsquo;S BEEN GREAT FOR US AND HE&rsquo;S ONLY GOING TO GET BETTER&rsquo;</b></blockquote><p>It&rsquo;s why nobody &ndash; including third-year stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane &ndash; wants to leave. Huet is in the same boat &ndash; happy where he is at this stage of his life, a 34-year-old from St. Martin d&rsquo;Heres, France, with a real chance to earn a Stanley Cup ring.</p><p>This is a big year for the Blackhawks, maybe their most important since 1971, when they had Montreal on the ropes in the Stanley Cup final and let them off. So the championship drought approaches half a century &ndash; the Hawks last won the Cup in 1961 &ndash; and next year, when salary cap issues could force the team to dispense with some of its young supporting cast, there&rsquo;s good chance the club&rsquo;s depth will be significantly depleted.</p><p>That makes this year their best chance to win, a narrow window that requires steady goaltending. Unhappily for Huet, last year, his first with the Hawks, he didn&rsquo;t really get the chance to show he was a money guy.</p><p>That job fell to Nikolai Khabibulin, who left in the off-season, largely for cap reasons, leaving the No. 1 role to Huet. His start was slow, &ldquo;ordinary&rdquo; is how coach Joel Quenneville put it.</p><p>&ldquo;He was under a lot of scrutiny,&rdquo; Quenneville said, &ldquo;be it from around the league and even at home games, but he really responded to a tough situation. It seemed like he started challenging more, he was more assertive at the top of his crease, fighting through situations where he was finding the puck, rebound control, handling the puck. It looked like he was more in a take-charge mode.&rdquo;</p><p>In the end, goaltending always comes down to confidence &ndash; the confidence a goaltender has in himself and the confidence a team has in the man between the pipes. According to Toews, confidence is something that sprouts over the course of a season in all aspects of a team&rsquo;s game, including goaltending. He sees an upward trajectory with Huet.</p><p>&ldquo;Huey&rsquo;s been great for us and he&rsquo;s only going to keep getting better,&rdquo; said the Chicago captain.</p><p>Huet is quick to point out the perils of taking a playoff spot for granted because so many things can affect a team&rsquo;s performance, particularly crippling injuries. So duplicating last year&rsquo;s run to the Stanley Cup semifinal will be no small feat, but if all goes well, Huet will be part of the action this time around, rather than watching it from the bench.</p><p>&ldquo;Of course everybody wants to play in the playoffs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Last year, we felt fortunate to be in the Western final, but we realized we had a chance to go to the final and missed it. So I think guys want to move forward and go further.&rdquo;</p><p>Nobody can peer into a crystal ball and predict the future, least of all Cristobal himself. But it&rsquo;s reasonable to think his tenure with the Hawks will depend largely on how the rest of this season and the playoffs unfold.</p><p>If it concludes successfully, Chicago would undoubtedly go to great lengths to retain Huet when cost-cutting measures are deployed. If the ending is unsatisfactory, the temptation may go in a different direction &ndash; one that would see the Hawks try to unload the $5.625 million he&rsquo;s owed annually through 2011-12. It will all hinge on Huet&rsquo;s play &ndash; and the ability to find that one extra elusive save when the critical moment arrives.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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December 14, 2009

IRELAND GETS AXE

ALL’S FERRIS IN SHOOTOUT

St. Louis

HAT TRICK